Wizard Hunters
by 1hit1der Storylover
Summary: They-they took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" "Shh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise"
1. Alex's Nightmare

Summary: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

DISCLAIMER: WOWP does not belong to me, but the Property of Disney

Pairings: Jalex (of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Notes: Guys I'm excited, you like this story so it will be continued. Thanks for the reviews and fav adds; hopefully it will be the first of many more to come. This chapter is a repost because I officially have a beta in the wonderful and talented, brokenflower, who actually was my first reviewer; it's kind of a special moment when you think about it. Now this story can officially start.

Beta: brokenflower

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_Prologue_

_ Alex's Nightmare_

Alex gasped for breath as she shot up in bed, her eyes scanning across the room for unseen enemies, widened by fear brought upon by her nightmares. When her search through the darkness came up empty she sighed with relief and rested against the pillows behind her.

A soft snore and movement brought her attention to the bed five feet away from hers separated by a small dresser. She peeked around the lamp at her older brother and smiled.

"Justin," she spoke softly, pulling the covers away from her body and slipping out of the bed. She fixed her pajama pants that were rustled in her sleep before edging over to the other bed. She watched the body of her brother, buried completely under the covers for any signs of awakening but saw none. She kneeled on the bed, nudging Justin's shoulder and whispering harshly his name once more. Her only reply was a throaty moan that sounded suspiciously like "Go away."

Alex narrowed her eyes, "Too suspiciously," she muttered before smiling and pulling a pillow off her bed.

"Oh Justin…" she sung, "Are you awake?"

When she received no reply she smiled to herself, and raised her pillow. It was his fault really, he knew her, and should have woken up in the first place. Alex brought the pillow down on her sleeping brother relentlessly, until he yelped and sat up in bed.

"ALEX" Justin shouted dropping his hands from protecting his face, and looked up at his little _evil_ sister, who pushed her long hair away from her face with a wide grin. He couldn't see her grin in the darkness of their motel room, but he knew she was wearing it like she always did whenever she messed with him. "Alex…what?" he growled at her, his arms in a tight fist.

"Oh good, you're awake." She grinned widely down at her brother, wrapping her arms around her weapon of choice. She slumped down to his bed, next to him.

"Yeah…now," Justin hissed, rubbing his hands over his face, his body tensed. "What is so important that you had to wake me up at…two in the morning? Really Alex?"

Justin groaned as he looked from the alarm clock that was beside the lamp, back to his sister. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and with the small amount of light from the open window he was able to make her out.

She looked upset, her eyes downward and her fingers fidgeting nervously on the pillow she clutched.

Justin sighed and he pulled himself fully up and against the wall behind him, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting one hand in his lap, and the other messaging his temple, urging the headache that was forming to dissipate. He just had gotten to sleep about an hour ago. Stressing over the turn of events that bombarded his life, sleep is was becoming a luxury of the past; it was not even sleep he just awoken from, but pure exhaustion causing him to pass out.

"What's wrong?" Justin asked dropping his hand from his head; he rested his head against the wall, watching Alex as she turned slowly to look back at him.

"I- I" Alex suddenly felt foolish, having just woken her brother because she had a nightmare. She knew how tired he was from having trouble sleeping and it wasn't fair to him for her to keep him up because she was to scared to fall back asleep. "No-nothing, never mind" she said shaking her head and moved to return back to her bed, but was stopped short by a hand grabbing her arm.

"You wouldn't have woken me up because of nothing, so tell me. What gives?"

Alex scoffed and turned around, a smirk on her face, "And how long have you known me, Justin?" she chuckled. It really was an Alex thing to do, truthfully.

Justin smiled and nodded, "Point taken, but I know you Alex, so tell me, what's up?" his hand never relinquishing its hold of her until she sighed and sat back down.

This time Alex turned fully to her brother, crossing her legs in Indian fashion. Her hands played with the tips of her hair, something she only did when something bothered her.

"I…had a bad dream," she finished lowly, feeling ashamed of it. She was grateful when Justin didn't mock her, although she knew he would never. She took a deep breath and unconsciously wiped away the tears from her eyes.

"What about," Justin whispered when Alex didn't move to say anything else, but look down at her hands still playing with strands of her hair.

Alex struggled with her next breath, trying to keep the sob out of her voice, her eyes were already leaking. "A-about Mom, Dad, and Max," she spoke softly, "They-they were in a room, screaming out for help, and I couldn't help them. I tried to help them Justin, but I couldn't get to them," She looked up at her brother trying to get him to understand how earnest she was.

Justin could only take a strangled breath of his own, his eyes reddening at his sisters words, and all he could do was nod in understanding.

"And-and Max," she looked away unable to keep the eye contact. "They_- they_ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, and Mom and Dad were crying out for him, and Max for them, and for us." Her hands curling into a fist, ignoring the pinching feeling against her palms, she continued. "They shut the door, and-and I couldn't hear him anymore. I couldn't…hear Max anymore."

By the end of it, her sobs were uncontrollable and Justin was holding her to him, trying to shush her cries. He wiped away his own burning tears as he tucked Alex's head under his chin.

"Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise." He whispered over her head.

"But- Justin…what if we don't." she asked pressing against Justin, her arms wrapped around his torso. She rested against his heart, taking comfort in its beat proving that he was both alive and with her.

"Of course we will," Justin replied not allowing the doubt in his heart to surface, especially around his sister. "It's you and I," he said tightening his grip, "how can we not?"

Alex smiled at the bittersweet memory; she would never forget what transpired between them that night under the sky; before it slowly slid from her lips, "Why is this happening again? Why is our family in danger again?"

"I don't know…" it was so low, that neither could be sure it was said.

Alex suddenly pulled away from Justin wide eyed "This is not my fault Justin, not this time…right?""

Justin shook his head in confusion; how could Alex even think -, "Of course this isn't your fault; you had nothing to do with this. How could you think that?"

Alex wiped away her tears and looked at her hands in her lap, "Everything usually is, I always mess things up when it comes to magic. I mean l-look what happened with the Genie and then the whole Caribbean fiasco…" she paused to sigh, "I can't help but feel sometimes that I'm to blame for this too."

Justin placed a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder and lifted her chin up with the other "There is no way you are responsible for this, Alex. Like Dad said, this has been going on for decades. A lot of people hold onto nonsense hate and ignorance, and they are to blame." He then smiled, "Yeah, you lie, you're devious, selfish, and a little bit conceited, and out to get me on most occasions, but that's just what makes you Alex. You would never intentionally hurt our family like this, or anyone for that matter. Do you understand me?"

Justin wanted to be sure that such thoughts stayed out of his little sister's mind. He understood where they came from, but he knows her better than anyone else. Alex would never do anything like what occurred to them.

Although she had pinched him halfway through his list of her faults (though she would call them skills) she smiled at her brother's soothing words. She nodded and was pulled into her brothers arms for a hug and where she whispered her gratitude under her breath and received a small squeeze for it.

Justin placed a kiss on her temple and pulled slightly away, "We should get some sleep; we have a long day tomorrow."

Alex nodded and slipped from his bed, standing in the middle of the small area that separated the two beds. She looked at the unmade made to her right, and a shallow memory of her nightmare flashed across her mind. She gulped and looked at her brother who was settling back down in his bed; turning on his stomach and pooling the pillow under his head, the covers covering him from the waist down.

"Justin…" she whispered to him once more.

Justin let out a long sigh and turned to Alex, who remained motionless over the bed. "Yeah?" he asked trying to hold back his tired annoyance.

"Can I…" she trailed off, her hands rung with nervousness and she questioned herself, wondering when she became such a sap. "Ugh…move over." Alex growled before pulling back the covers and slipping beneath them. She faced away from her brother and tightly shut her eyes hoping her brother would not push her out the bed.

Justin smiled at his little sister's form, as he was reminded that beneath all the lies, deception, and just plain evilness, Alex was his little sister, who sometimes got so afraid of her nightmares that she couldn't sleep alone.

Wordlessly, Justin turned his back to his sister's and pulled the covers up to his chin. "Goodnight Alex," he whispered into the night.

A brief silence filled the air, but he smiled when sudden movement resulted with her back against his.

_Night Justin_

Justin wasn't sure if she actually said it or not, but it didn't matter, before he had the chance to ponder it, he was already asleep.

When Justin woke again, he was greeted with harsh sunlight, a massive headache, and a weight on his left side. He threw right arm over his eyes opening to both block the sunrays that shined threw the unguarded windows and to hopefully press away his headache. He turned his head and peeked under his arm, for now ignoring the weight against his left side, his eyes read the clock and groaned.

A quarter after seven, you gotta be shitting me, he thought to himself, as he shut his eyes hoping to block out the world. He was starting to regret training himself to awaken around seven, when he was younger and without a care in the world…aside from Alex and her disasters.

Speaking of which, he opened one eye to the girl who slept heavily on his bare side, his arm wrapped around her waist, her face buried in his side, and one of her arms thrown over his midriff. He vaguely remembered taking off his shirt sometime after he and Alex went back to sleep because he had gotten hot when she refused to move from off him. He noticed that she must have done the same thing, as her shirt was missing, and she w as sporting only a black bra and her pajama bottoms.

It was both a comforting and yet a disturbing sight. Firstly, it proved that he still had his little sister with him, that at least he had someone from his family by his side, someone he could protect. He failed with the rest of the Russo family, he would not fail Alex. Second, it was disturbing that he was sleeping half naked with his sister in a lover's embrace, it was so wrong on so many levels.

He didn't allow himself to divulge in those thoughts, if he didn't think them, then they did not exist, and he could continue having his sister by his side, until they had the rest of their family by their side.

Justin turned to bury himself in Alex's hair but a particular ray from the sun caught his eyes, causing his headache to pulsate. Justin groaned and threw his right arm in the air, and breathed.

Nothing happened.

Justin lifted his head slightly from his pillow and threw his arm out again.

Again, nothing

His brows narrowed until he remembered a familiar weight against his neck and he sighed, dropping both his hand to his side, and his head back on the pillow, and he groaned in annoyance.

His fingers played with the small blue stone that hung by black band around his neck, reminding himself that one also hung around his sister's neck. At the same time he felt Alex dig herself deeper into his side, her hand lowering to his hip, and her face moving into his body, probably to hide away from the sun. He felt her wet lips against his skin, as she unconsciously moistened them. Although it was by accident, his body began to react in a way that sent his mind reeling and decided sleep was no longer top priority; a shower was.

With slight difficulty, Justin managed to pull himself away from the sleeping Alex and remove himself from the bed completely. He stretched and scratched his shoulder where her hair tickled him. Upon the great feeling of his back popping, he moved toward the windows and shut the blinds, and curtains, effectively shutting out the light.

The room wasn't in complete darkness, not even the shades could keep all of the sun rays out the room, but it was enough to allow both relief for the sleeping girl, who resulted in pulling the covers over her head to block out the sun, and his headache.

Justin moved over to his small duffle bag and pulled out a new pair of boxers and a white sleeveless undershirt. He also took out a bottle of Tylenol extra-strength hoping to deal with his headache. Without a second look, he moved silently to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him.

He took his pills before the shower, where he let the powerful jet stream of hot water smooth down his aching muscle; muscles that cramped up from a night of sleeping with a restless Alex, and from the situations that took control just two weeks prior.

Since Alex wasn't due to awaken for another three to five hours, Justin let himself relax in the shower for a half hour refusing to let his mind dwell on depressing matters, at least not when he was trying to ease his body. He contemplated a bath instead, but honestly, he didn't want to wait for the bath to fill, then washing it out afterward, knowing that Alex would demand it of him before she even thought about taking a shower herself.

Besides the water beating against his sore body was a great feeling.

"After Justin finished, he redressed in his pajama bottoms throwing them over his clean underwear. After brushing his teeth, he cleaned up the small mess he made and threw his clothes in a bag to be washed when they came upon a Laundromat

His headache receded fully by the time he was done with everything. Justin looked at his bed to where his sister had changed positions yet again, the covers were thrown on the floor, and her body was spread out over the whole bed.

Probably the best, he suspected before grabbing the pillow Alex probably dropped on the ground sometime during the night, since his was now being used by said female. He threw the pillow on the empty bed and laid down on his back, hands behind his head.

It was then that Justin let himself do what he hadn't done since everything started. He let himself be lost in the memories and allowed them to pull him to the past to when his family received the Wizard mail about the Wizard Hunters.


	2. Collaboration

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, me and my beta are both dealing with finals and perfecting this story. So patience please, everything for me should clear over in the next two weeks hopefully. Hopefully the next chapter will be up by the weekend. Oh and thanks to my Beta brokenflower brought it to my attention, so I'll make a statement, next chapter should clear up all confusions on the hunters…So enjoy this Russo Family moment. Thanks for the reviews, I hope this story doesn't disappoint.

Beta: brokenflower (honestly the best)

Disclaimer: Do Not own, but I'm claiming copyrights to the collaboration spell

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_Chapter 1_

_Collaboration_

_Two Weeks Prior: _

_Thursday, After school, Wizard Class_

"Okay you guys, today's lesson is about Collaboration Spells." Jerry said, as he wrote the words on the white bored in the Lair, he then turned around to face his students who were also his children. The sight that met him was just the same as any other day.

One was interested, ready to learn what he offered to teach…_Justin_

One was texting on her cell, not paying attention, again…_Alex_

One looked lost on the road of life, or whatever…_Max_

Jerry sighed, another day another headache. "Alex, Max, pay attention, this is important."

"Come on, Daddy, we're paying attention, you said something about collar spells." Alex said sweetly to her father, knowing he couldn't get angry at her when she used that tone.

"Ooh, we're getting a dog?" Max asked suddenly alert, the other three Russos just stared.

"What? No, not collar spells, Max, Collaboration Spells." Jerry said with a shake of his head; sometimes he worried about that boy. He looked at his eldest son and pointed to the other two, "Justin if you please,"

"Yeah, please go away," Alex commented with a snort, before Justin could open his mouth.

"Wow, it's a candid moment, Alex saying the word please." Justin retorted, Alex threw him a look, which he returned before clearing his throat and proceeding with his explanation, "If you guys bothered to read your magic handbooks, then you would know that Collaboration Spells are spells used when two or more wizards are working together. It was discovered by accident by James Elsie author of Common Magic, and his friend during a mock duel" Justin smiled pointedly at Alex who pointedly ignored him.

"Exactly-"

"Wait a minute." Alex interrupted her father, standing up from her desk that was between her brothers, and walked around to her father, "We did this collaboration thing or whatever, during that whole Mighty Max fiasco."

"Wow," Justin smirked, "you know big words like fiasco."

"Oh shut it,"

"And it was Maximan," Max intervened, pointing at himself, "Do I look like an annoying ten year old boy with a portal opening hat who hangs around a talking chicken…"

Alex turned to her younger brother with a confused look, "What?"

"It was a cartoon show from the nineties," Justin turned to his brother, "and it was a fowl, not a chicken."

"Oh what-ever," Alex growled before turning back to her father,

"You know, now that I think that, jumping between portals with a talking chicken- _"Fowl"_ "would be so cool…I wonder if there's a spell for conjuring one…"

"Max, really!" Alex said annoyed before once again to smile sweetly at her father, she was working here and her brothers were ruining it.

"Oh there is, Max, it's the Katty Foreign Chick spell, it allows a bird to talk the language of the caster of the spell." His eyes lit up in amusement, "but you know what's really cool, Katty is spelled with a 'k' so it's the KFC spell. Get it, chicken, KFC, ha I love that." Jerry laughed as his kids could only stare fearful at him. Jerry noticed his kids' expressions and smiled, "No good?"

They all agreed.

Alex cleared her throat, "Either way we learned this before right, so that means I can ditch? Harper wanted me to meet her at the new shopping center that opened up" she smiled at her Jerry and kissed his check before he could answer, "Thanks daddy," Alex said and made a dash for the door.

Jerry grabbed his wayward daughter's arm just before she made it by him, "Wait a minute Alex, this isn't the same lesson, so go sit down."

He pointed to her seat; Alex sighed dramatically and went back to her seat, purposely ignoring the silently mocking Justin, just throwing him a glare that meant "say-anything-and-you-die". His smug smile couldn't be wiped away.

"Now kids," Jerry began, "a Collaboration Spell is different from a regular group spell. Take the Havity no Gravity spell, for example. In that spell you need three wizards to perform it, in a collaboration spell you need at least two."

Justin leaned into his sister "That means two or more," he whispered mockingly.

"I know that…" Alex whispered harshly back, pushing away her brother.

"Now in a collaboration spell, if performed correctly with other wizards, it makes a regular spell more powerful, depending on the number of casters. Two will double the power of the spell, three triple it, and so on."

"Really," Alex asked, slightly interested; only slightly, because if she was more interested she would be like Justin.

Jerry smiled, happy that Alex who usually didn't care about anything, showed some slight interest in learning magic. He worried about that girl sometimes. "Yes, up to an infinite number of wizards can come together to perform a Collaboration Spell, and make that spell the most powerful spell ever performed.

"How about an example, Justin I want you to perform the Illumination spell."

Justin held up his wand.

"Ohhh, Justin wait." Jerry stopped his son, and held up his hands. "Clap off." He said as he clapped twice, and the room was embraced in darkness.

"You know Dad, I'm not sure on a lot of things, but I'm pretty sure you don't have to say clap off when you clap." Max said slowly in the dark.

"I know, but I love it, now that is real magic. I especially like the song; Clap on, _clap clap_, clap off _clap clap_, clap on, clap off, clap on _clap clap_." Jerry sung clapping his hands and dancing as the light flicked on and off.

Once again his kids could only stare.

"OH, CLAP OFF," Alex yelled clapping, annoyed and very embarrassed as the light cut off, at least now she didn't have to look at him. She worried about that man sometimes.

Jerry cleared his throat, "Now Justin, go ahead with the spell."

Justin held up his wand. "_Illumination" _he spoke strongly and the tip of his wand light up in a white glow. It was enough to light the small area around them, causing the shadows back against the wall.

"Okay, good job Justin, you can release it now."

Once again the darkness enveloped them.

"Now I want you all to perform that spell together, on the count of three."

Jerry waited until he got the conformation that they were ready, with wands in their hands. "Okay kids, one…two…three."

"_Illumination"_

"_Illumination"_

"_Illumination"_

The three Russo teens recited together in unison and their wands glowed together.

Alex looked around and was disappointed, "I thought you said it would be three times more powerful," she said as she noticed the room was still darkened expect for their surrounding area.

"You're right Alex, I did, and it isn't now because this isn't the Collaboration Spell. This right now what you're doing, is the same as putting three torches or lamps together, not very bright. However, what makes the Collaboration Spell special is the Round,"

"Round," Max asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well…do you three remember when you guys were younger and singing the Row your Boat song in a round, one right after another?" The three younger Russos groaned.

"How can we not," Alex said covering her face with her free hand, "Mom made us practice it until we got it perfectly, so she could send the video to our grandparents for Christmas."

"Yeah, it was part of our, 'Russo Family Memories'," Justin added using air quotes.

"Well, yeah, your grandparents loved it by the way," Jerry smiled at the memory, and to torture them a bit. Who said Alex didn't get her torture technique from her father?

"Yeah, and during the next Family reunion we had to perform it in front of everyone." Max groaned.

"Ugh, and I still have nightmares from those matching sailor outfits." Alex said and the three shuddered together.

"Right, anyway, the Illumination spell is just like that. You guys have to say the spell in a round, and it must to be done with exact timing; this is what makes the spell strong.

"While the first person activates and executes the spell, the second person begins saying it in the middle of the spell as a round. This reinforces the spell and makes it stronger by adding the second caster's strength. Then the next person or persons add on their magic which blends with the spell and strengthens it."

"Eww, gross, I have to blend my magic with these two losers." Alex said pointing at her brothers.

Justin and Max scoffed. "You think we're happy about it," Justin replied,

"Yeah, girl magic," Max said with the same effects of saying 'girl cooties'. The two boys shuddered.

Alex rolled her eyes, "And to think, I was two away from all sisters."

"Guys pay attention, this part is very important. The first person to cast the spell is the control of it; however it's very hard to control a Collaboration spell, so the other wizards who also perform have to have absolute control over their powers without wavering."

"Come on, Dad, we totally got this," Max said leaning back on his backless stool, which resulted in him falling off, his lightened wand darkening and falling with him.

The other three looked his way; he smiled as he climbed to his seat. "I'm okay."

"I doubt that." Justin muttered and Alex snickered.

"Somehow, that doesn't reassure me," Jerry said and sighed. "That's why we're starting with the Illumination spell, it's the least dangerous out of all the spells, and it shouldn't cause bodily harm." He paused. "Well slightly."

Using the light from Justin and Alex's still lit wands, Jerry reached over to the large desk that was in front of his three student desks and picked up four pairs of sunglasses, and passed them to his kids and then put on his.

"Blindness can occur if we're not careful, the effects will be like looking into the Sun." Jerry added with a grin. "Not as permanent though, but just in case, these are magically protected, no matter how bright it gets, your eyes won't be affected."

He waited for the Justin, Alex, and Max put on their sunglasses,

"Now in order to perform the Illumination spell as a round, you guys are going to have to have patience, cooperation and understanding of each other's presence and-"

"You know, this sounds like something I do not want to be part of." Alex said standing up.

"Alex, sit. Good, now to perform it correctly, you're going to have to break down the word into two parts; _Illum_ and _ination_. So it will be, Illum—ination. After the first person says the first part of the word…Justin, followed by the second person…Alex, and lastly, Max. Say it slowly and precise, no need to rush it. Any questions before we begin?"

All three shook their heads.

"Okay, now it's best to do this on a beat, like this." Jerry showed them how to do so, by breaking down the words and saying them with a snap of his fingers to show them how they would use it with a beat. He had them practice the beat with the word a few times until he was sure they have that part down. When he was sure they were ready he allowed them to perform the spell.

"Justin you go,"

"Okay here goes." Justin said before closing his eyes to concentrate his breathing, trying to find his center.

Alex rolled her eyes, knowing what he was doing. "Oh, would you just go already," she snapped. He ignored her, but released the light of his wand that was casted from the last spell, and Alex did the same. Then he began.

"Remember to relax."

Justin nodded, annoyed at being interrupted but relaxed his shoulders. He lifted his wand.

"Ooh, and concentrate."

Justin grumbled, "Got it, Dad" He poised his wand.

"And don't forget to breathe."

"DAD, please, I'm trying." Justin yelled looking exasperated at his father.

Jerry smiled sheepishly, "Sorry."

The three wizards raised their wands again in the air.

"_Illum—ination"_

... ..."_Illum—ination"_

... ..."_Illum—ination" _

The light that shined was more powerful than the last and it lit more of the room up, but it wasn't Jerry's desired results.

"Max you came in too soon. Try coming in after Alex and not with her. You guys only got it half the way. Remember to listen to each other, watch each other movements."

"Yeah, nice going Max," Alex stated annoyed letting her arm drop. The other two followed example and the room was engulfed in darkness.

And that is where the problems began; being who they were as Justin, Alex, and Max, it wasn't long before the arguing, insulting, and mocking began. It took them about ten minutes for them to even attempt to perform the spell again because snide remarks were heard and the ugly cycle of arguing, insulting, and mocking would start again. No matter how many times Jerry tried to control the situation. Then it took another five to ten minutes for them to leave out the snide remarks during the spell, enough for them to actually perform it correctly.

"_Illum—ination"_

_... ... "Illum—ination"_

_... ... ..."Illum—ination"_

Jerry couldn't hold back the grin that threatened to split his face, when he saw the results.

The end of Justin's wand was lit up in a massive ball of white light. A steady stream of green, pink, and blue magic flowed from the three wands into the light where it burned white.

The entire Lair was lit up, brighter than what the rooms own light could do. There was nothing in the room that casted a shadow because the magic light purposely sought out any form of darkness and cast itself over it. The light even provided a certain amount of warmth over the four Russos.

"Wow," Alex and Max said in unison as they looked around the room, they never saw it so bright, both of their arms started to lower in their wonder.

"Ugh Guys, concentrate please." Justin said a bead of sweat forming on his brows. It was heavy magic, and he started to understand how powerful it could be. He felt his magic supplying the spell, he could even feel Alex and Max's magic in a way he never have before, moving through his fingers and up his bonds. However when their attention was distracted, he felt the spell pull more from his own magic than he could give.

"Guys pay attention; this spell could be very dangerous to Justin. If you don't pay attention then it will take more magic from Justin than he could handle." Jerry scorned, his other two kids nodded in understanding.

Only once they were able to stabilize the spell, did Jerry start giving them commands.

"Now I want you three to try to lower the amount of energy and magic your giving into it. Alex that's too much…good. Now Justin, try to, if you can, evenly detect the identity between yours and Alex and Max's magic…great. I want you to direct them into how much they should give or take."

Justin nodded softly, so as not to distract himself from minding the magic.

Jerry smiled proudly at his children, he know that they could come together as a team if they really worked for it.

"This is a great spell for learning to control and focus over your magic." Jerry spoke as they concentrated. "It teaches you to understand your magic, and how much you use, per spell. This way, you don't have to spend so much energy in a spell. In a way you're getting to know your magic on a personal level. It's something you should practice every day together for an hour, each taking turns being in control of the Collaboration Spell.

"This is pretty cool," Alex said. She really like this spell, it put her more in control over her powers than she ever felt. However, as something she would never say out loud, she really enjoyed being with her brothers like this. She felt surrounded and protected by them, and she felt like she was doing the same.

She loved her brothers, and would do anything for them, so for her, this was bringing them closer together. "How powerful can this thing get? I feel like it can be more so."

"You guys wanna see?" Jerry asked excitedly, they all readily agreed. "Justin, really concentrate now, become a base for Max and Alex."

"Got it,"

"Good, now just slowly ease more of your magic into it."

The blue and pink magic from Max and Alex's wands smoothly doubled in size and blended together with Justin's green magic in his wand before traveling up increasing the size and brightness of the white light. The area surrounded them in complete whiteness that objects around them started to disappear. If it wasn't for the magically enhanced sunglasses they all wore, they would have all gone blind. Soon the whole room was covered in so much whiteness that it seemed empty, the occupants were having trouble seeing further than their own noses.

"Okay guys," Jerry called out, "That's enough, pull it slowly back in."

"But I think we can go further, Dad." Max said not letting up.

"Really," Jerry asked surprised.

"Yeah," all three agreed.

Jerry was amazed, not many wizards could white out an entire room, and still go strong.

"You guys really are part of the Russo clan." He muttered under his breath to himself, but then he smiled, "That's enough for now, before you guys really see how strong you can go, you should each practice at controlling it."

The three moaned and groaned, but slowly began to ease up.

A sound erupted from the room that was familiar to Max, catching his attention. He looked just in time, when the whiteness of the room started to fade, to see a small bottle shoot out of the mail slot of the Wizard World door.

"Ooh, Wizard Mail." He shouted and dropped his wand.

"MAX NO!" the other three shouted but it was too late he launched himself towards the table to grab the mail.

The effects happened instantaneously; to compensate for the imbalance of magic, the spell took its needed energy from the two remaining power sources. Justin felt the sudden pull on not only his but also Alex's magic and knew he had to do something quick. He quickly pushed his magic forward, to deter it from hers, before he could throw away the spell. Justin was thrown backwards, where he landed on the floor, whole body shaking, Alex managed to catch herself on the desk before she could fall back.

The room was engulfed in darkness once again, however when the ball of light was thrown, it clashed with the ceiling and small harmless partials of light ranging in the colors of the rainbow, rained down, allowing small seconds of light in the room.

It was enough to see Justin withering on the floor. "JUSTIN" Jerry called out to his eldest, rushing around the table; he clapped his hands, and the room's natural light turned on and he threw his sunglasses on the table. He knelt behind his son and helped sit him up. Alex joined them on the floor.

"Are you okay, son?" Jerry asked.

"I-I think s-so-o," Justin said trying to calm his shaking, managing to control it the shaking in his body but not in his hands. Alex grabbed them, holding them together.

"Max how could you?" She scolded, ignoring her own body tingling from the after effects. Max joined them next to Justin on the floor, the mail bottle clutched in his hands tightly.

"Ah man, Justin, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," he said feeling immensely guilty. "You guys know how I get when we get Wizard mail, I forget everything else."

"I-it's okay M-m-max-sss," Justin said freeing one of his hands from Alex and clumsily grabbing the front of Max's shirt, pulling him closer. "Jus-st-t wait un-t-till-l your t-turn-n." He released his younger brother and with the help of his father and sister, managed to stand on shaking legs was somehow made it to the red couch.

"Max I am very disappointed in you," Jerry said turning to his youngest son after instructing Alex to get Justin some water.

Max hung back when the threat was made. He knew that any threats made by his siblings were usually upheld. "I'm sorry dad, it was an accident. I swear."

"I told you guys that concentration was absolutely important. You could have really hurt your brother and sister today."

Max nodded slowly, he himself was scared when he saw Justin go down, "I'm really sorry, Justin, you know I wouldn't do anything you hurt you." He said sincerely.

Justin smiled up at his brother, clutching his hands together to try to control their relentless shaking. "It's okay Max; we know how you get when Wizard mail comes through." He said easing up some of his brother's guilt.

"What is it anyway?" Alex said returning with a bottle of water in her hand, she sat next to her brother, on the couch, and watched as he tried but failed to hold the bottle steady. She resigned with a sigh, and helped him steady the bottle enough to bring it to his lips. She would have to make them swear that her helping him would never see the light of day outside the lair. She had contemplated on having him 'accidently' choke on the water, or spill, but she had realized when he pushed his own magic toward the vacuuming light to stop it from pulling hers, that she owed him. So her not tormenting him in some way with the bottle of water, made her even.

Max looked at the medium size bottle in his hands and pulled out the note.

"What does it say Max?" Jerry asked sitting down on the lone sofa.

"Uh…" Max read the note and shrugged his shoulders, "something about Wizard Hunters."

Justin pulled the bottle away from his lips, choking on some of the water, half spewing it at his sister, at the same time Jerry shot back up from the chair.

"WHAT?" the two eldest Russos yelled out.

"JUSTIN, GROSS," Alex shot up from her seat wiping her face in disgust.

"Let me see that," Jerry demanded, Max handed over the white rolled note to his father, and Jerry grabbed it, his eyes quickly scanning over the message.

The three waited for a response and were shocked when they received it. It was the first time they ever heard their father swear.


	3. The Hunters

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, me and my beta are both dealing with things... We each have our own set of worries, but for her it's clearing up...not so much me.

Beta: brokenflower (honestly I'm trying)

Disclaimer: Do Not own, Wizards of Waverly Place and song, Everything is not what it Seems.

Enjoy and Review, please, I want to know what you think

* * *

_Chapter 2_

_The Hunters_

"So it's agreed, the fact that I swore will never reach your mothers ears." Jerry said walking back and forth before the couch that held his three children. "She'll never forgive me."

"Right. " The three chorused.

"It's not that big of a deal Dad," Alex said wiping her face with a small rag she conjured up, she could still feel Justin's nerd germs. She was so getting back at him for this.

"It is to us Alex," Jerry said finally stopping to face them somberly, "we believe in running profanity free home. We don't curse and we want you to pick up those same morals.

Justin briefly wondered if his father would ever make an effort to learn Spanish, because the things that come out of his mother's mouth when she thinks no one can understand her would make Jerry's minor slip up sound like a nursery rhyme. He smiled anyway, "It's okay Dad, none of us curse, ever."

"Good, that's what I like to hear." He said collapsing back on the lone sofa.

"So what did the mail say?"Justin asked, stretching out his fingers, relieved the shaking had finally stopped

Jerry sat up in his chair and pulled out the folded paper from his back pocket. He looked over it again. "It's just a small warning, nothing to completely worried about at the moment. I guess I overreacted a bit." He said sheepishly,

"About…" Alex said throwing the small cloth on the table in front of her.

"There's a rumor going around about a possible Wizard hunting activity going on, but at the moment it's just a rumor." Jerry said re-reading over the note, he left out a lot of information but he didn't want to worry them, if it was going to be nothing, as they tend to be.

"If it's a rumor why even bring it to our attention until it's confirmed, won't that start a worldwide panic?"

"Well they have to Justin. It all goes back to the Salem Witch Trials, in order to keep something like that from happening again, even the slightest rumor must be told to Wizards world-wide so they could at least be somewhat prepared."

"Wait I'm confused, what are wizard hunters?" Max questioned.

"Haven't you read anything in the Wizard Handbook?" Jerry asked his son, who smiled sheepishly and shook his head, he turned to his daughter and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "What about you Alex, you do know who the Wizard Hunters are, right?"

Alex smiled coyly, "Daddy, you shouldn't ask questions you already know the answers too. And who said there was no such thing as stupid questions." She laughed waving away the question. Jerry and Justin just shook their heads.

Jerry stood from the chair and looked down at his children, "I've told you guys over and over again to read your Handbook."

"And therein lies the problem, once you start saying it over and over again, it gets old and loses its meaning to me…you know like an old song…or when Justin talks."

"Oh har har har," Justin replied with fake laugher.

"Har-what the- oh who says that? And you wonder why you're a loser, you nerd…" Alex paused and grinned. "Did you see what I did there? I made a double insult." She turned to Max and high-fived him. "I'm getting better all the time."

Justin opened his mouth but Jerry stopped him.

"Alex, out of the entire book, haven't I always said that chapter fifteen was the most important, and that you _have_ to read it."

"You have." Justin replied before Alex could earning him a threatening glare.

Jerry signed and rubbed his temples, hoping to rub away the headache only his kids could create. Actually it was Alex's specialty.

"What's so special about Chapter fifteen?" Max wondered out loud.

Actually, Max was good at giving him one too.

Thank God for Justin, his hold onto sanity. However the future looked grim, since Justin would most likely be busy keeping Alex out of jail, and Max was…well Max, they had no one to look after them in their old age. They were hoping for their Plan B; adopting Harper, she'll take care of them.

"Chapter fifteen talks about the dangers of irresponsible magic in the mortal realm…Alex," Jerry added as an afterthought. Alex scoffed and folded her arms, while Justin chuckled. "The reason why mortals are forbidden to know about wizards and the dangerous outcomes that could or already has happened."

"So I'm guessing something happened with these 'wizard hunters' before?" Max stated using air quotes.

"Yeah…they hunted wizards." Jerry sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Look guys, you really are going to need know about wizard hunters, so you need to read that chapter. I'm not going to tell you about it."

"Come on, Dad, you know how I feel about reading," Alex said, pointing at her father and gesturing to random books that were placed on a nearby shelf.

"Yeah," Justin answered turning to his sister, "it should be banned, along with school."

"Exactly." Alex said jumping from her seat with a clap, she looked at her father who narrowed his eyes at her, "or not." Alex smiled awkwardly as she sunk back down.

"I'm being very serious here," Jerry said shaking a finger at his two youngest, "you have to read that chapter…and-and until you do, no magic."

"WHAT!" Max and Alex shouted shooting to their feet.

"That's not fair." Max whined.

"Oh I think it's perfectly fair." Jerry said crossing his arm, "You two cannot do any magic until you read that chapter, and prove you did. And if I catch you using it beforehand, you'll be grounded."

"How long we talking about here, because if it's two weeks I had nothing really planned anyway." Max responded crossing his arms.

Jerry dropped his hands to his waist and looked at Max. The youngest Russo unfolded his arms and sunk back to the couch. "Never mind."

"Read the chapter," Jerry staring down Alex and Max until they nodded in agreement. He grinned, he still had it.

"Now if you excuse me," Jerry smiled rubbing his hands together," I have to try to change your mother's mind about lasagna for dinner instead of chicken salad."

Jerry gave one final glare to his kids before turning and all but running out of the Lair.

The three watched their father as he turned the corner and all relaxed. Justin chuckled loudly as he stood up the sofa and crossed his arms, moving past Alex and shaking his head.

"What are you so happy about?" Alex snidely asked, crossing her arms.

Justin turned around, the amusement strongly present on her face. "Oh nothing much, just thinking about the number of _weeks_ I can relax knowing that I don't have to go around fixing both of your mistakes."

Alex eyes narrowed and scoffed, "I resent that, what makes you so sure it will take us weeks to finish it?"

Justin scoffed this time, stepping close to Alex, and strengthening his folded arms. "It's about thirty pages…" he smirked.

"Seriously," Max groaned, "It'll take us a forever to read it." He slumped against the couch, shaking his head.

Alex turned to glare at him, before turning back to Justin, who grinned smugly as his point was proven.

"Now if you two will excuse me, seeing as how I already read the chapter, there's a few spells that I'm rusty on." Justin waved mockingly and turned to walk away.

Alex wasn't buying it. "Are you really?"

Justin stopped and spun around, a wide grin etched across. "No not really, I just enjoy mocking the fact that I can use magic and you can't." Justin turned to leave once more.

Alex and Max shared a look. "Wait Justin," They yelled and running to stop him, they blocked his way out.

"You can help us." Alex said.

"Yeah man, you can tell us about the chapter and the wizard hunters." Max agreed.

Justin backed away, shaking a finger at them. "Oh no, no no, you guys are not roping me into your homework assignment."

"We're not tying you up; we just want your help with chapter fifteen, but we're willing to if we have to, right Alex?"

Justin and Alex paused to look at Max; they really shouldn't be surprised anymore.

"Come on Justin," Alex begged turning to him, "it will take us forever to read what you can explain in five minutes."

"Nice try Alex, but I'm looking forward to a little peace and quiet, without worrying about you two."

Alex groaned, her mind racing to come up with something, "Justin, just listen okay." She grabbed onto his arm so he couldn't turn away from her.

Justin sighed. "Fine, but you have one minute," holding up his arm to better see his watch as he timed her. "Starting…now."

"This…uh…." Alex stumbled, her mind racing; but she soon grinned. Didn't Justin know she always thought better on last minute excuses? "The Collaboration Spell," she stated with a snap.

"What about it?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Alex flashed her eyes to Max before turning to Justin and stepped up to him, poking his chest. "You're gonna need us…" she motioned between her and Max, "and our powers."

An eyebrow rose, "I'm listening…"

"Yeah…you can't do that spell without us, and you want to do that spell again."

"I do?"

"He does?"

"You do." Alex confirmed, and put her hands together in a way that only happened when she schemed. "Come on Justin think about, you and I both know that you never had as much control over your magic as you did tonight when we did that spell."

Justin smiled, head tilting to the side, and fingers rubbing his chin. "True…"

"And you know you're going to want to practice it again and again." Alex said turning away and walking to the couch, she dropped down with her legs stretched out over it. "But you can't…'cause we," she motioned between her and Max, "can't use magic."

Max caught on…finally, "However if you help us, we can help you with the Collaboration spell."

Justin eyes narrowed. "Oh you mean how you helped before; ooh Wizard Mail," he mocked.

Max sighed, his eyes rolled and arms crossed. "Are we still on that, I thought it was over with. I mean come on, how long ago did that happen?"

"It. Was. Ten. Minutes. Ago." Justin snarled.

Alex jumped for the couch and pulled Max back. "You're so not helping right now." She pushed him away before smiling at her big brother who smiled stiffly back.

Her smiled dropped. "Look you gonna help us or not, we want a chance at that spell too."

Justin rolled his tongue in his mouth, as he thought it over. "Fine, but I get the first chance at the spell when we do it."

Alex glared, but held her tongue and her hands tightened into a fist. "Fine, deal." She raised her hand and Justin shook it.

"Great, meet me in my room after dinner, and bring the dork," Justin nodded toward Max,

She couldn't resist, "Why, you'll already be there."

Justin snatched his hand away.

"This is great," Max smiled, jumping up, "now I'm going to see if I can win over a cupcake with this smile," Max pointed at his grin, before running out of the Lair.

Alex shook her head at her small brother, before her eyes found her older one. He was picking up his wand that fell out of his hand earlier when he collapsed. Her eyes slid to his water bottle that was on the floor by the couch. She smirked.

"Justin, wait, your water." she called out, scooping it up and jogged to him.

Justin turned around in surprise as he was heading out, "Oh thanks, Alex-"

Justin froze when the bottle was over turned on his head, it was enough to soak his hair, and wet the top half of his shirt.

"Yeah," Alex grinned, shaking the bottle for the last drop before shoving it in his hands and turning to walk away with a bounce in her stop, "you're welcome."

Justin groaned but sagged his shoulders, "What was that for?" he asked defeated.

Alex stopped and turned around, she wiped something imaginary off her cheek, "you know what you did," she said darkly and turned to walk away, pulling her cell out of her pocket as she left the room.

Justin nodded to himself in understanding, "Right…" he mumbled to himself wiping his own face and left after her.

* * *

_Later that night_

"So all that's left to cover are Wizard hunters." Justin said to his brother and sister who sat on the edge of his bed, looking utterly bored.

"There's more?" Max groaned, falling back on the bed.

"Uh…yeah, the wizard hunters, I just said that."

"Look can we just get this over and done with, I can feel myself getting nerdier by the second."

"Nerdier? That's not a word." Justin exasperated.

"Really…" Alex said, sitting up straighter, her eyes shifted before her hand hesitantly pointed at his computer, "if you're so sure, then you should…look it up."

Justin looked at Alex dryly before picking up the small up his Wizard Guide book again, purposely ignoring her, he was too tired to fight her and still had his own homework to revise.

He sat down in his computer chair, rolling it to his bed. "Look guys, this is really important, Wizard Hunters are extremely dangerous, they take wizards from their home, strip them of their powers which on most occasions kills them. It's why Dad always stressed out about it."

He leant forward in his chair, as he flipped through the pages on the Wizard Hunters; it covered half of chapter fifteen. Justin didn't really need the book; he read the section enough times that he knew all the information by heart. However unlike before, he reread not for the sake of being studious, but for the saying; 'Know thy enemy'.

Alex and Max shared a look before sitting up and toward their brother; perhaps it could not hurt to know more about these 'Hunters'.

"I've had my powers taken before by Professor Crumbs, it didn't hurt, only left me feeling dull. It can't possible kill."

Justin sighed, "Alex, we have a spell for that, it's designed to do it in a humane way; they don't and don't care to try. When they do it, according to the Guide, it's like having half of your body ripped in half, a lot of wizards die from it."

"I-I don't understand." Max said plucking pieces of linen out of Justin's covers, It was a habit of his, his fingers itched to do something destructive when he was upset or nervous. This time was no different.

"Yeah," Alex agreed, "maybe I'm getting this whole magic thing wrong, but I thought you needed magic to take away magic."

Justin peered at his siblings, his lips drawn in, figuring out how to explain, "…guys, wizards…are…not…Wizard Hunters, well not always but on most occasions; they are mortals or warlocks and witches. They have an intense biased hatred for wizards, and wish to see us destroyed."

"But…why?"

"We don't fully understand, son." Jerry informed, the three Russo teens turned around to the doorway where their parents stood. Jerry stood near the door with Theresa resting against his side, for comfort and support. She knew it was a sore topic with her husband.

"Mortals," Jerry squeezed his wife hand, before fully entering the room, "well some mortals always have had a fear of what they don't understand and can't prove, and there is no better example than magic that can't be scientifically proved, in any way, shape, or form. Sometimes, when this happens, they want to destroy it, because they consider it the work of the de-evil, because they consider it evil." Jerry sat by his youngest son on Justin's bed, and patted his shoulder.

"Not everyone is like that." Theresa said smiling at her children; she stood by Justin and wrapped an arm around him in a hug, which he returned. She caressed his cheek before walking to Alex and Max, doing the same. "Some people see how beautiful magic really is and appreciate it, and look upon it in wonder." She sat down between her youngest and pulled them to her, they each rested their head on her shoulders.

"I thought you didn't like magic." Max questioned as his arms went around his mothers waist.

"No, Mijo." she said warmly, tears coming to her eyes, her hands curled around their hair, "I dislike the use of magic in my house, let's face it, you guys are destructive in my house with it, especially on my lamps." They chuckled. "But you guys, I love magic, because magic is part of who you are and I love who you are. Saying I hate magic is like saying I hate my own children, and what mother says that about her own? I love you, Mijitos."

"We love you too Mom." Justin said. Theresa reached around Alex and Justin moved closer to grab her hand, Jerry rubbed Max's shoulder and smiled.

The five Russos relax with smiles sharing moment.

"You know," Alex said softly, smiling as she took her older brother's free hand, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but this isn't that…bad...of a family moment."

Theresa smiled, "I know, I wish I had my camera,"

That destroyed it for Alex. "And that ends that." She said sitting up, and pulling her hands free, everyone else slowly pulled away. She stood up, shaking away the feeling of 'family love'…ugh. She pushed her hair back over her shoulders.

"So I get it," Alex began as she wandered around Justin's room, touching things and moving them randomly, because she knows he hates that the most. Sure enough, Justin was following after her, snapping "I mean the mortals side of it…well sorta…but what about warlocks and witches, aren't they the same as us? Why would they hunt us?"

"They're not the same Alex…" Justin hissed as he snatched his perfect attendance award out of her hands and carefully returned it. He grabbed his wayward sister's shoulders and led her back to his bed, sitting her back next to their mother. "If you had listened to any of your classes at, WizTech, then you would know that wizards are way different from witches and warlocks."

"They are?" Alex and Theresa questioned together.

"Yep." Justin and Jerry responded, Alex and Theresa shared a look.

"Well there, you learn something new every day," Theresa said patting Max and Alex's leg before standing, "which means I'm out, because while magic is a beautiful thing, I think its beauty lies in the mystery of it all. By me staying here it will lose its mystery…yeah, that's it. Let's go with that." Theresa smiled at her children before briskly walking out the door.

The other four stared after her.

"Ohhh she's good," Alex said proudly, pointing at the doorway where her mother just left, "I'll totally have to remember that one." Who said Alex didn't get her evasive ways from her mother?

"So what's the big difference between us and them?"

"It's in our magic, Max." Jerry said, slowly standing up from the bed, he looked over his three children, and his teaching mode taking over. "You see, witches' and warlocks' magic tend to depend on the earth elements and the physical plane; there tend to be a need for more sacrifices and animal…parts…" he shuddered, "that still freak me out. They rely on the moon and the stars for their magic, which is even then is still limited.

"Don't get me wrong, we also have to rely on some of these too, but just not to the same extent. A wizard's power tends to be more…more… uh wild and uncontrollable."

"Just like Alex." Justin couldn't resist, so Alex kicked at his chair.

"It's one of the main reasons why we have to use wands while they don't; wands filter and control our magic so we don't overpower a spell."

"Basically we have too much magic, so the wands control how much of it we put into a spell." Justin elaborated, his younger siblings nodded.

"Exactly," Jerry agreed, "our magic is able to go beyond witchcraft, and our limitations aren't as strict."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked, pulling crossing her legs beneath her.

"Well, for example, remember our very first magic class? I explained that all magic users, no matter who they are, have to be aware of the balance of the universe."

Alex nodded and smiled to herself; when she was thirteen she made a song, and called it; Everything Is Not What It Seems; a song about magic and her understanding of the universal magic. Okay, so maybe it was for homework for Wizard training, and she got Justin to do most of the work; such as write the music and words for it, but getting him to bend to her whim was no easy task when he was fifteen, so she takes full credit for it.

"Well, for us, those are simple rules we have to be conscious of, but for witches, they cannot perform magic if it involves altering the balance in any way, shape, or form. So, for example, let's say…bringing a certain friend from the future…to write certain books…and keeping her here…" Jerry paused to look at his children who blanched and all started to stutter and speak at once.

"We-we didn't even bring her here." Justin said, "She was already here."

"Yeah-yeah…and after a while, when we went to find her, she was already gone." Alex added with a nodd.

"Wait…are we talking about Future Harper?" Max asked jumping to his feet.

"Yes Max," Jerry said giving his son a dry look, "yes, I am talking about Future Harper."

"Well, how did you find out? I didn't tell you did I? I would think I would have remembered telling you…wait…no, no I would have not." Max slowly returned to his seat.

"It doesn't matter." Jerry said with his hands on his hips. "You guys should have told me and you should have sent her back on your own. I had Kelbo do it. Do you know what happens if she had meet present Harper,"

His kids looked away and he sighed, "…again."

Jerry shook his head, "It doesn't really matter anymore, what I'm trying to get at, is that Wizards magic allowed her to stay here in this time for a long period of time, a witches power would only allow her a few hours, because there could have been a possible disturbance of the natural balance of life."

"Wait wait…" Max said jumping up again, Jerry looked at his son expectedly, "How did you find out about Future Harper?"

All three groaned and rolled their eyes.

"Give it a rest, Max." Alex said pulling her brother back to sit on the bed.

"Anyway, just like mortals, there are witches and warlocks who resent wizards because we technically live outside the rules of basic magic. They believe that either the same rules apply fully, or we be stripped of our magic."

"I don't get it, all you've told us is that people don't like us, well whoop-dee-doo, people at school don't like me either and they don't have their own group to plot my downfall."

"Actually Alex, they do," Justin said holding up a hand to get her attention, "It's an I-Hate-Alex-Russo-Club. It's actually quite popular," Max agreed, "It's kind of an underground secret society with meeting every Wednesday after school.

Alex narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Oh stop lying; you're not good at it."

Justin clearly looked amused and sat back against his chair, arms crossed, "Who said I'm lying, I actually went to a few meetings. It was very insightful."

"Oh yeah then, why haven't I heard about it, I stay after school all the time."

"…for detention," Justin stated the obvious, "and you leave after that. Besides why would we tell you?"

"Hey is that party still next Wednesday?" Max asked.

Justin smirked and nodded.

"Oh you guys are just hilarious," Alex said dryly, "Anyway, before the dork brothers interrupted, why were the Wizard Hunters formed?"

Jerry crossed his arms and stood before his children, "Their hatred for wizards was, and they wanted an end to us, it as simple as that. If their magic has to strictly follow the laws of the natural balance, then so should ours."

"Wait, you said something about the Salem Witch Trials." Max accused, "What does that have to do with us?"

"Well…nothing and everything," Jerry explained, "during the Salem Witch Trials, the Wizard Council issued a law among Wizards stating that they were not to get involve in fear of wizards being attacked next."

"So basically wizards were told to stay out of it, which fueled their hated."

"Basically," Jerry agreed, "and it was the last straw against Wizards. Many believed that with wizards help, many witches and warlocks lives could have been saved. I believe so also, so I'm not proud of that particular time of our history."

"Anyway, ever since, there has been a war between wizards and witches; witches going as far as hunting our kind. Wizards, due to guilt of the Council has never taken such actions, against them, although never say never."

"How bad has it gotten, I mean against us?" Max wondered, "I mean you were pretty freaked out."

"Really bad Max, there are specialized hunters out against wizards; mortals and witches are teaming up to take us down." Jerry paused as he considered telling his children what he did not want to, but knew they had a right to know about their heritage.

"About two hundred years ago, a group of what we believe to be mortals and witches teamed up. They launched an attack on wizards, assassinating them and stealing their power. The council could do little to stop them, they stayed in the shadows. They were called Shadow Hunters."

"So did they stop them?"

Jerry shook his head, lowering his gaze unable to keep their gaze, "We don't know why they stopped but they did, and in the process nearly wiped out all wizards forever. Some think that's it was a warning, against wizards, many thought we should retaliate but we did not. So ever since, any sign of active Hunters are to be warned to all wizards, just as a precaution."

"So is this new warning anything to worry about?"

Jerry smiled at his daughter and fisted his hands, "I doubt it, that last attack I was telling you about, happened in Europe and never completely reached the U.S, and any other warning was caused by some sighting that happened overseas, never here. Besides we get a warning at least twice a year and nothing ever comes out of it. I doubt this time is any different."

"Anyway it's late, and you kids have school in the morning, you should get to sleep. I have to go make a few phone calls and call it a night myself." Jerry rushed off his explanation, and rushed out the room, leaving his three children confused.

"Dad just lied to us." Max said slowly after a moment of silence.

"That's silly." Justin said laughing it awkwardly off, "its Dad, he has never lied to us…"

"No no, I think Max's right." Alex said jumping onto the idea, "Dad couldn't even look into our eyes and he was fidgeting."

"No, Alex." Max said in a moment of unique seriousness, "I know Dad was lying to us. I read that note." He looked at his siblings who watched him. "I read the letter that the council sent to us. It stated that the wizard hunting activity was going on here, in America."

Justin and Alex could only turn to stare.


	4. Avoiding the Unavoidable

Summary: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

**DISCLAIMER**: WOWP does not belong to me, however like me it is owned by Disney; That's right, you read correctly, Disney owns me and my soul, for I am working down here in Walt Disney World in Florida. I would say someone kill me, but Disney have those rights too I believe... lol

**Pairings: Jalex **(of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Notes: Sorry, I uploaded the wrong version, I loaded the unedited, but it's fix. This is the edited version.

**Beta: brokenflower**; thanks for putting up with me

Notes: Thank you for the reviews and support, espeically Brokenflower, my editer and commonsence bringer, thank you. Not Just A Nerd, who stories I absolutly love, but barely have time to review, (I'll get right on it) (You guys should totally check those out...they are awesome). ALong with my other reviews, thank youl...

* * *

_Chapter 3_

_Avoiding until the Unavoidable_

Justin paced across his room, hands wringing through his dark hair.

"What do you mean it's going on here?"

"No matter how many times I say it, it's not going to change Justin," Max sighed as he wheeled himself around on Justin's chair. He pulled himself up to the desk and moved to play with Justin's computer, but was quickly spun around by the owner. Justin bent over to look at him in the eye.

"It's not like Dad to lie to us, so are you sure-"

"Justin, seriously!" Alex sighed as she picked her head up from resting in her hand, now she was getting annoyed. "Face it, Dad lied to us."

Justin sighed and slumped on his bed; he paused and sat up. "That must be it; there must be nothing to worry about."

Alex and Max shared a look before turning to their older brother. "But Justin, the letter said that the activity was going on here in America, doesn't that mean there is something to worry about?"

Justin shrugged his shoulders, "Dad said there are warnings at least the twice a year, so this time shouldn't be any different. If we have never heard about it until now I doubt we have to put much thought on it."

Justin smiled as he figured it all out; Alex and Max was still skeptical but threw away all ideas when Justin brought up Collaboration Spell training.

"I'm thinking we can start tomorrow, I'll go first of course, as agreed."

"You know, I've been thinking about that, and I'm going to have to say no," Alex replied examining her nails.

"We already agreed," Justin argued

"You already took your turn," she fought.

"Yeah…but it was never finished, because a certain person interrupted us."

Max rolled his eyes, "We're back to this again, it was so long ago."

Alex chuckled and Justin seethed. "It was only a few hours ago."

Max waved it off.

Justin took control of himself with deep breaths. "Look if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have been able to even practice it."

Alex shook her head in annoyance. "Fine whatever; just don't start crying like the little girl you are." She stood up from her spot on the bed, "Let's get out of here Max before we catch nerd syndrome."

Justin scoffed. "As if you know what that means."

Alex smirked and walked backwards to the door, her little brother in tow, "I used it in the correct form of sentence, right?"

"Uh…yeah…"

"Then I think, you know that I know what it means," she stuck out her tongue before disappearing with Max behind the door. Justin could only chuckle as she closed the door behind them.

* * *

Jerry placed the house phone on the coffee table in front of him then leaned back against the orange sofa and rubbed his face with a sigh.

"What's wrong, Honey?" Theresa asked as she finished wiping off the kitchen counter. "I haven't heard you sigh like that since I told you my mother was coming to visit last Christmas."

Jerry chuckled at his wife and turned to her, God did he adore that Spicy-Spanish woman. "Nothing just got off the phone with Kelbo."

Theresa paused in her cleaning and turned to her husband. Upon seeing how upset he was, she tossed her cleaning materials on the counter and made her way to his side, sitting at his side.

"What is it? Is it about those Wizard Hunters?"

Jerry looked at his wife and placed his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. He smiled and kissed her forehead, "It's nothing to worry about right now."

"Are you sure?" Theresa questioned doubtfully.

"I'm sure, honey," Jerry nodded.

Theresa stared at her husband and knew something was wrong but decided to leave it alone for now and give him time to gather his thoughts. She could always question him later.

Theresa patted Jerry's thigh and stood up, "If you say so dear, I'm going to get in the shower before bed."

"Okay, I'll come up in a minute."

Theresa gave her husband a quick kiss before moving across the flat towards their bedroom. She paused in her steps and turned to Jerry to remind him they needed to order more napkins for the Substation but hesitated when she saw him. He was hunched over on the couch with a troubled expression again. She sighed and shook her head deciding it could wait; in the meantime a hot shower was calling her name.

Jerry scratched his head, and sighed once more. He prayed that what Kelbo just informed him was not the truth. It could not possibly be the truth. Jerry paused in his ranting and listened to the distant voices of his children talking and laughing up stairs and closed his eyes. He interlocked his fingers and placed his forehead against his hands. He was not a praying man, but for his children he would be. He really hoped that it was not true.

He could only wait until he knew for sure.

* * *

_Two Days Later, _

_Saturday Evening _

"Okay, ready?" Justin asked, Alex and Max nodded, "start us off Max."

"Right…" Max closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking a moment to fix his magical sunglasses.

"Illum-ination"

… ..."Illum-ination"

...…... ..."Illum-ination"

The room bled white.

"No matter how many times we do this, it's still awesome," Max grinned, his arm high in the air, controlling the spell. The light wavered and the two eldest groaned.

"Concentrate Max," Alex warned.

"Tell us what you need, feel the magic," Justin instructed.

"Okay, okay, uh…" he focused, "A little more Justin…okay…pull back Alex…"

"Are you sure, I feel like I'm not doing anything," Alex wondered, "Justin's feel like it's coming stronger,"

"Well, now I am because you're overloading the spell, if I were to put anymore in then it would be too much for him and the spell."

"Well, I wouldn't have to, if you picked up your share," Alex growled.

"Alex…you're so…unbelievable!" Justin yelled, unaware he his anger was beginning to affect his magic and the spell.

"Guys…"

"If anyone is unbelievable it's you Justin; ever since we started with this stupid spell, you have been more bossy than usual!" Alex yelled. "You can't boss us around!"

"I'm the oldest," "Uh…guys…" "so I believe that means that I can."

"Did you read that in some big brother manual too?" Alex retorted dropping her hands to her waist and facing her brother.

"GUYS!" Max yelled, no longer able to control the spell.

"WHAT!" They turned to him.

"GOOSE!"

Justin and Alex knew their brother enough to understand what he meant, and dived to the floor, with Justin protectively hovering over Alex. The ball of light they were working on flew over their heads, slamming against the adjacent wall in the Lair and finally falling in small sparks to the floor. The three Russo kids looked up before scrambling to their feet.

"MAX!" Justin and Alex yelled at their younger brother.

Max shook his head, "You guys cannot blame this on me, and it was you. Ever since we started practicing this spell, you guys have been doing nothing but arguing about it and I'm tired of it. Wait…" he paused and looked down in concentration, "…yes, I am definitely tired of it. You guys are bonking this whole thing."

"Oh that's ridiculous Ma-"

"You're right," Justin interrupted, earning confusing glances from his siblings. "We have been fighting about everything when it comes to this spell, worst than ever. I'm sorry Max; we messed up your turn."

"Oh, we're not that bad," Alex insisted however at the look that her two brothers sent her, she relented. Alex sighed and crossed her arms, "Okay we're that bad, I'm…well you know…sorry-ugh- too, whatever."

She wiped her arms resisting the urge to shower the sweet sentiment off her, as she muttered under her breath about a wasted Saturday night could have been spent with Harper at the mall.

"Look let's try this spell again," Justin offered. "Alex you can go, and I'll try not to be so bossy about it. Alex you try not to pick an argument for the sake of arguing," she glared, "and Max focus and keep the weirdness level down a bit, okay?"

"I make no promises, but I'll try," Max replied with a shrug. "And that's all anyone can ask of you," Justin said amused and twirled his wand around his fingers. "Alex you want to start?"

"Whatever," she said holding her wand high in the air.

Alex spoke the words following by Max then Justin followed.

An hour or so later, Jerry walked into the Lair, with his magic safety glasses on; he had noticed the blaring light under the door. He stood in the doorway watching his three normally bickering children work together on a spell they just learned. He relished in the moment because he knew it would not happen again.

It only made what he was about to do, even harder.

"Good job, Guys, that spell is looking more stable than ever. I'm proud of you guys. Now pull it back in, I want to talk to you."

The three children spared their father a look, before the eldest counted to three and they simultaneously released the spell. It was one of their more successful attempts. Jerry clapped.

"You know, you guys are doing a lot better than Kelbo, Megan, and I when we first started learning that spell. We would argue and fight, it took us a long time before we could even work together to do the spell without biting each other's head off."

"Well, we're not exactly-"

Alex elbowed Justin then smiled sweetly at her father, "We have more respect for each other, Daddy, and we listen to each other and stuff." She really loved hearing her father's praises.

Jerry's smile reached his eyes, he didn't believe her for a second, but remained silent. He sat down on his sofa, and motioned for his children to gather on the long couch.

"What's wrong Dad?" Justin asked when he took notice of his father's somber expression.

Jerry sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, he really didn't want to do this. "I-uh-I just talked to your Uncle Kelbo."

"What about?"

"About how you guys are no longer permitted to use magic," Jerry said leaning forward in his chair, leaning over his legs. He prepared himself for their reaction.

"That's not fair!" Alex yelled jumping from her seat. "You said that if we learned the information from Chapter whatever, then we were allowed to use magic."

Max followed her example. "Justin, and you, told us about Chapter…" he paused in confusion, "whatever? I thought it was fifteen. Is there another chapter? Oh man, I'm so lost." Max sunk back against his seat, once again the other three Russos could only shake their head at him.

Jerry stood up from his chair, and placed a hand on Alex's shoulders. "It's not about that Alex, it's not about that."

"Then what is it?" Alex demanded to know, folding her arms.

Jerry sighed dropping his hand.

"It's about the Wizard Hunters, isn't it?" Justin asked. He was the only one not to react. He was leaning forward, watching his fingers twirl his wand around. He stilled his wand and looked up at his father who turned to face him.

Jerry nodded and slowly sat back down. "Yeah, it is."

"What is it exactly?" Alex questioned, taking back her seat in the middle of her brothers.

"Wizards have been going missing, throughout the country," Jerry spoke softly and somberly.

"Missing?" Max asked, sitting forward.

Jerry nodded again, "At first, the council wasn't sure if it was because the Wizards moved themselves, stuff like that happens all the times. But it became apparent when reports were coming in about missing people and whole families, even mortals within a wizard family."

"How many so far?" Justin questioned.

Jerry took a deep breath, before he entered the Lair, he promised himself he would answer all questions truthfully. "Wizard council hasn't reached an exact number, but rumor has it the number has reached the hundreds."

Alex eyes widened and fear crept in, unconsciously she reached for her brothers' hands, and both were grasped.

"What's happening to them?" she questioned.

Jerry shook his head. "No one knows, and any speculation would be just that, speculation. Since none of the missing has been found and there hasn't been anyone who escaped an attack yet, it's really hard to say what's going on."

"What is anyone doing about it?" Justin questioned, he couldn't believe that the council would just sit by and let this happen without taking action. "What is the council doing about it?"

Jerry sighed and dropped his head, he wasn't proud of the answer he received when he asked that question too. "At the moment; nothing, and that's because nothing can be confirmed yet. Investigations have been going on, but not hunters."

"So let me get this straight," Justin said standing up, "we're just supposed to sit by and let what's going on, keep going on. The council is putting us all at risk. That is not acceptable."

Jerry stood up, and put a hand on his fidgeting son. "Calm down Justin, they are doing all they can at the moment."

"Which is what exactly?" Alex said, she sat forward in her seat with her hands clasped over her knees. "Having us sit by just letting it happen."

"No," Jerry responded strongly, "by have us do everything in our power to protect our family, even if it means no magic. I'm serious here, you guys, no magic means no magic. I will not have our family be put at risk because of an urge to summon a muffin, or a new hairstyle, or whatever Justin uses for magic."

"You mean, saving Alex and Max, from spells-gone-wrong." Justin said folding his arms and turning to his younger siblings, who crossed their arms and mocked him. "Oh very funny guys."

"Listen guys, can you at least promise me, from now on, no magic, until everything is cleared."

"How long are we talking here?" Max asked.

Jerry shrugged his shoulders. "Days, weeks, months…"

"Aww man, that's bonk," Max whined slumping back in his chair.

"Just promise," Jerry said crossing his arms.

"We promise…" Justin said promptly while Alex and Max lagged in their response.

Jerry smiled and let go a sigh of relief. "Good, now come on, dinner's ready." He ushered his children in front of him, and wrapped his arms around his precious daughter's shoulders as she walked by. Alex melted into her father's embrace and wrapped an arm around here.

"Justin, Alex, Max," he spoke softly and sincerely, his three kids looked at him in wait, "you know I'm proud of you guys…with everything. You guys are practicing your magic together, and taking this serious, for the family. I couldn't be more proud."

"Aww Daddy," Alex said hugging her father; she has always been a Daddy's Little Girl.

Justin clapped Max's shoulder and smiled at their father, "We know Dad, we know."

"Now if you guys don't mind," Alex said bouncing to the front of her brothers, "I'm going to go call Harper and see how her, Date with Mother, day is going…then laugh at her about it."

"How does she put up with you?" Justin questioned, rolling his eyes as his sister stood before the Lair's door, he pulled it open and she flashed him a smile.

"The same as you do," Alex smirked back as she walked through the open door and into the Subshop's kitchen, "with no choice at all."

* * *

Jerry closed Max's door, his youngest was sleeping on his top bunk, top half off the bed. He would have been worried if he didn't know that his son always slept that way. He walked down the hall to Alex's door and cracked it open to peer inside. Alex was passed out; face down with her head buried under a mass of pillows and covers, only her feet could be seen. He chuckled and closed her door. He went further down the hallway to Justin's room, and opened the door the same. The nightlight shined next to Justin's bed where he was sleeping under the covers.

Justin was probably the most doting of his children, especially toward his brother and sister. The nightlight next to the bed was proof of that. It was a gift to him on his eleventh birthday from them, when he was actually scared of the dark, due to a movie. He used it ever since and fixed it when something would go wrong, he even still used it after he grew out of being scared and grew into being annoyed with the light.

When asked Jerry asked why he kept it on if the light was bothering him, Justin replied with a shrug, smile, and say, _"It was the only thing they gave me, with money they earned, rather than money they borrowed, on a day that it being a special occasion."_

Justin was correct of course, Alex and Max saved up their own money from allowances and even attempted to work in the Subshop, just to buy the nightlight for their brother. It was sweet.

Jerry smiled fondly and closed the door, he really loved his family. They weren't the model of a perfect family, and he often had to ground his kids on more than one occasion. But they were his and he would do everything in his power to protect his family.

Jerry sighed and walked around his house making sure doors and windows were locked. Going to the last of the windows Jerry looked out and moved to shut the shades when he froze and his hands tightened around the curtains. It took everything in him to not to stare hard out through the windows and to not drop the curtains and run back to his family. He had to force himself to close the shades in the same normality as he did with the others, and to step away from the windows. He walked to the wall next to the door, and flipped the switch. When the room was filled with darkness, he ran to Justin's room, as fear crept into his heart.


	5. Under Siege

**Summary**: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

**DISCLAIMER**: WOWP I do not own, i would say otherwise, but I knoww what Disney is capable of.

**Pairings: Jalex **(of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

**Beta: brokenflower**; thanks for her wonderful imput for making this story is readable and makes sense

**Notes**: Sorry for the late update, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It came out just as i saw it in my head.

Please REview after reading...i love to know what you think.

* * *

_Chapter 4 _

_Under Siege _

Jerry pulled the covers off of Justin's cover and shook his shoulders to wake him as his urgent demands came out in a harsh whisper, "Justin, Justin, wake up."

Justin being the easiest of the Russo children to awaken, shot up in his bed, ready to fend off whatever that was attacking him with his wand that he pulled from under his pillow

"What? What?" he asked dazed and confused his wand ready to strike.

"We have to go, we need to get to Alex and Max," Jerry spoke quickly grabbing the raised wrist and pulling his son to his feet.

"What going on?" Justin said tripping clumsily out of bed; Jerry pulled on his arms to pick him up and out of the room.

"They're here," Jerry said in urgency.

"Who?"

"The hunters!"

"WHAT?" Justin stopped and looked at his father. "Are you sure?"

Jerry paused and grimaced, "Not really, I just thought I saw hunters staking out our house."

"WHAT? Are you sure?" Justin asked again.

Jerry played what he saw through his mind; someone in a black slipping into the shadows, but it was dark outside and it could have been anyone. "I just said, not really."

He led them to Alex's room.

"Wait…then why-"

"Because I'd rather be wrong than right, if anything consider it a drill." Jerry pushed open the door and motioned to keep the light off. "Wake up Alex."

Jerry ran to the center of Alex's room and pulled back the area rug away from the center of the wooden floors. He knelt down and felt around the edges of the hardwood floor, annoyed because what he was looking for would be so much easier to find with light, but he didn't want to risk it. He didn't want to give off any warnings to what he believed, but secretly hoped wasn't, the hunters.

Justin, hesitated, because waking Alex up from her favorite pastime was condemning one to a long life of torture, but moved forward anyway, taking what is father said to heart.

"Alex," he whispered harshly, removing the mass that drowned his sister. Once she was free of pillows he attempted to pull Alex up by her arm.

"Go-way and die," she muttered pulling away from whoever was disturbing her. Justin didn't relent, he glanced over at his father who was hunched over Alex's floor, doing whatever, and returned to Alex. He pulled the fully covers off of his sister, and attempted to pull her feet to the edge of the bed so he could lift her, but he was kicked in the stomach for his troubles.

Justin doubled and glared angrily at his sister, no longer willing to be nice about it.

"Alex, wake up," Justin grunted as he shook his sister shoulders roughly as he clutched his stomach.

Alex always woke from her sleep grumpy, however when forced to wake up, before the sun rose, then her temperament would be at its worst.

"What do you want?" Alex growled as Justin pulled her into a sitting position. "And it better be good or you're becoming a toad in the morning."

"Hurry Alex," Justin said ignoring the comment and pulling his sister to her feet. She whined and tried to resist but he held her close so she could not move.

"Hey I found it," Jerry exclaimed motioning to his son to come forward with his daughter.

"What in the world is going on here?" Alex questioned scratching her head as she leaned heavily on her brother (if he wanted her up, he would have to do the hard work). She squinted her eyes through sleep's haze and watched as her father lifted a small section of her floor up. "Okay, I must be dreaming, because I'm seeing Dad opening my floor? Really, you wake me up for this? There will be consequences, better believe it." Alex growled and moved to return to her bed, but was stopped by Justin who held tight and led her to the other side of the opened floor.

"It's a bomb shelter?" Justin asked his hands firmly around his sister's waist and pressed her into his side. He and his sister peered beyond the open door; it was a small crawl space with dusty old blankets laid out and covered in cobwebs.

"It's like a bomb shelter, but it's called a wizard shelter. It's enchanted with a spell that makes wizards and magic all together undetectable to any type of scanners and magic-hunting-animals. I had Kelbo make one in each of your rooms when you guys were born." Jerry explained as he wiped his hands and looked up at his two kids with a wide grin.

Justin and Alex just looked at him, then each other, and then back to Jerry. "Wait wait wait…you want to put Alex in there?" Justin was a very clean person and the 'wizard shelter' was the opposite; cobwebs, dust and dirt, food…and was something crawling around? As much as he would have liked to throw his sister in there…actually it would not have been a bad idea. She would probably feel in her element.

As if Alex knew what he was thinking, she smacked him across the chest with a look that dared him to.

"Well Justin, fix it up with your magic…and hurry, we have to get to Max," Jerry explained pointing in the space below.

Justin twirled his wand around his fingers and pointed. "_Make this space, Alex's place; roomius fixus_." The magic left his wand and bent the small space to Justin's will and it was decorated in a smaller version of Alex's room.

"Wait, I'm confused," Alex said finally pulling out of Justin's hold, "what's going on here?"

"Alex," Jerry began walking up to his daughter and placing his hands on her shoulders, "the hunters are here and we need to keep you safe. Get in."

Alex froze and backed up. "No, I won't. Look, this family needs my help, besides maybe if I was seven inches tall… because seriously, who could fit in that?" She didn't mention that she was scared to be away from her family, scared of the hunters.

"Justin…"

"_Shrinky dink, shrinky dank, shrinky dunk."_ Justin aimed his wand at his little sister and then aimed it in the space; she landed on the miniature bed.

"Oh you guys, this is so not funny." Alex didn't even have her wand to stop it from happening.

"Alex, you have to stay safe, we'll come back for you." Jerry said and he and Justin leaned over the crawlspace.

"You are not leaving me, _please don't_." Alex was urgent, how could they expect her to sit idly by? She stood up on her bed.

"I'm sorry but I'll come back for you Alex, I swear." Justin promised and raised his wand.

"No Justin-" Alex moved to back away from Justin's pointed wand, but tripped and fell back on the bed.

"_A princess you always wanted to be, so like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, sleep away until there's safety."_

Alex's protest came to an end, as she collapsed on the bed and drifted into a deep sleep. Justin had to hold back the grin as her clothes and hair was changed to look like Aurora with a bright pink dress and flowing long hair. She would kill him for it when she awoken, but it would be completely worth it.

"Get her wand," Jerry instructed as he tucked his little princess, literally, into bed. He wished he had a picture, because she really looked so adorable. He pushed tiny long strands out of Alex's face and his eyes burned with tears, he muttered goodbye and that clutched at his heart. She was at least safe for now.

Justin jumped up and pulled his sister's wand from the same place he kept his at night, under the pillows, a habit she picked up from him. With a quick mutter of words the wand shrunk to Alex's new size. He hastily returned to his father's side and he tucked her wand under her pillow then stood back.

Jerry replaced the secret door in its place and fixed the carpet. Jerry stood up and patted Justin's shoulder. "Good job, now let's get to Max."

Justin nodded and followed after his father. God he wished his father was wrong, he thought as he looked back at Alex's empty bed, and then the hidden room under the floor. Justin closed the door and joined his father to Max's room.

"It's the same, you get Max, and I'll get the shelter," Jerry whispered grabbing the doorknob and pushing open the door; they stepped through the door and stopped.

Max was no longer in bed; he was being handled by two strangers in black clothing along with black masks and gloves, and being carried to the window. One holding his arms crossed over his chest with one gloved hand while the other hand covered Max's mouth, the other stranger held onto Max's feet. Max was fighting back frantically but their strength was too much for him to overcome.

They reacted instantly.

"MAX!" They yelled out simultaneously. Max and his capturers looked in surprise, in time to see a green ball of light come at them. With quick reflexes the guy holding Max's feet, dropped them and held out his hands, the magic bounced off his hands and crashed into the wall, it burned the wall.

Taking advantage of the distraction Jerry and Justin rushed forward and attacked the two men threatening to kidnap Max. Justin punched and pushed the guy who dropped Max's feet; he ducked a punch and delivered an elbow strike to the guy's stomach. The Hunter, forced back from the elbow, tripped over the objects littering the floor and hit his head on the bed post. Before anything else could be done, something reached from under Max's bunk bed and a tentacle wrapped around the Hunters' neck pulling him under.

Justin shuttered and jumped back as the Hunter screamed before becoming silent. The four others stared in awe, and jumped as the bed rumbled and before settling and stilled.

"What the-" Justin was caught off as another tentacle reached out and snaked past him on the floor.

"Don't move!" Jerry instructed, freezing his own movements, as the tentacle slid past him. The others complied. The Hunter shook in fear, his hold on Max tightening with both hands wrapped around the young teenager, watching through the dark as the tentacle slid toward him and the kid and stopped to the side of him.

It stopped on the floor: long, thin, and colorless due to the darkness of the room and almost invisible due to the tossed mess on the floor.

Max grinned. "Get'em boy," he yelled when his attacker let the hand covering his mouth slipped. The tentacle struck, and latched on the Hunter's leg. Before the Hunter could react, he was yanked to the floor, his arms flaring out, releasing his capture. Jerry caught Max before he could hit the floor and held him close. They could only stare to watch as the Hunter yelled out a muffled scream and was pulled under the bed before he could grab anything to hold on to. The bed once again rumbled before it and the Hunter fall silent.

"Max, are you okay?"

"I-I think so." Max nodded wrapping his arms around his father, and held on tight. He never had been more scared in his life when he was awoken out of bed by one of the hunters slamming a hand over his mouth and being pulled out of bed. He was never happier to see his brother and father.

"What was that thing Max?" Justin said moving and tripping over the lumpy floor to stand with his family, his eyes never leaving the bed.

"Oh, that's Spot; he followed me home from the Wizard World. Can I keep him Dad?" Max asked looking up at his father.

"Uhh…no, as soon as-"

Another scream broke the conversation and they recognized the voice instantly.

"MOM!" "THERESA!"

The three ran out the room but Justin stopped when he heard a thump behind him. He turned around to see a Hunter jump in through Max's window, then three more.

"DAD!" He warned.

"RUN!"

The three ran through the hallway and down the steps. Another scream and a name was called and Jerry froze looking back down the hall, he almost forgot his wife. Justin and Max stopped on the steps before him.

"I'll get your mother; you guys get to the Lair."

"Dad we'll come with-" Justin argued.

"NO Justin, protect Max. Your mother and I will catch up."

"But Dad," Max whined clutching onto Justin's arm in fear, he didn't want to split up. His eyes because glassed over with unshed tears.

"Go with your brother," Jerry said going back up the few stairs he climbed down. His throat was caught and his tears shed. He watched Justin pull Max forward and turned to around to save his wife.

"How can we just leave them?"

"I don't want to either Max," was Justin's only response.

"Where's Alex?" Max froze and moved toward the steps again but Justin pulled on his arm.

"She safer than us right now," Justin looked back saw the other three Hunters in pursuit. He took his wand and aimed a green bolt straight at them, the one in front lifted his hands and the spell bounce away from them and to a wall burning and destroying a whole in the wall.

"What the-?"

"It must be plastic," Justin growled, "The natural enemy of magic. RUN."

They two ran through the living room, Justin bringing the items they past to life ordering them to stop the Hunters. Justin threw random bolts around the hunters no longer aiming for them, figuring it would be useless if they were using plastic. He shattered his mother's favorite lamp surprising one hunter off his feet; the coat rack at that point wrapped itself around the fallen hunter. However it only slowed that hunter, down, not stopping the rest.

Justin and Max ran out the doorway by the kitchen to the Substation down below.

"GET TO THE LAIR!" Justin yelled when he reached the landing and followed after Max.

Max jumped over the counter, then Justin, and pulled open the cracked door, and slipping through. They froze once they cleared the small hallway and stayed in the shadows. Five hunters were searching around the place.

"Now what?"

"I don't know? How did they get in here? We can't let them get to the Wizard world," he muttered under his breath, half to himself and half to Max, when he noticed two snooping around the portal.

"But Justin-" Seriously there was more pressing issues to worry about.

Justin shushed Max; they only had about five seconds before the ones chasing him would show up. He needed to concentrate; he let his eyes wander the Lair and stopped on the globe, and smiled. He turned to his brother.

"I'll wait for the others to show up then destroy the room with them in it, I'll give you a signal and you get to Mars, and I'll then follow you."

"That's risky and stupid, Justin."

"There's nothing else," Justin stressed, "look it'll be okay. Just promise me you'll go to Mars when I give you a signal and stay there till I come get you."

"But Justin-"

"Max there is no time," Justin said grasping his brother shoulders and looking him square in the eye. "Just promise me."

Max shook in fear but nodded. "I promise…" he patted himself down and the realization dawned on him. "My wand is upstairs."

Justin groaned and bit his fist, then shook his head. "You're better at magic than you think; go without it."

"But-"

" MAX…trust me you'll be fine," Justin hissed, and pushed him deeper into the shadows and without another word spun and ran in the Lair, throwing a magic bolt at a chair which shot itself forward and hit a Hunter going into the Portal.

The Hunters turned onto Justin and eased in. Justin fisted his wand and breathed. He hoped his two years of Karate he took when he first started high school and the Monsters defense classes would finally pay off.

No time in hoping.

Max watched his brother take on the Hunters and was impressed, Justin really was good. He managed to dock blows and catch a few punches in, but even he knew Justin wouldn't last much longer, the Hunters were better trained.

He heard the door open and slid further into the shadows as the hunters that followed them entered the Lair and rush into the fight. They were all in and he watched as Justin jump over a couch held his wand over his head and did the Illumination spell, with his eyes closed; Max followed suit. Max uncovered his eyes when he felt Justin's magic die down, all the hunters were bent over covering their eyes.

Max watched his brother raise his hand and nod his head. That must have been the signal.

"_Transportium Nextorbitor-"_ A hand clasped over his mouth and he was pulled sideways against someone, again. He looked up and saw a black mask staring down at him. His eyes widened in fear, and tried to pull away and but was held on tightly. He yelled out for his brother but his voice was muffled and tried to pry the gloved hands off of him, but his hands were pulled tightly to his chest. The Hunter was too strong.

Max cried with fear as he struggled and looked for his brother's attention.

"_RESTRUCTION DESTRUCTION,"_ Justin yelled with his wand high in the air. The Lair's ceiling cracked and groaned before collapsing into the room. Justin's plan was to perform the spell then dive under the coffee table for cover where he would transport himself to Mars to find Max.

Max watched in fear for his brother when the ceiling started to cave in, watching as Hunters were easily buried underneath. He watched one particular Hunter, who just happened to catch his eye launch something out of his hand before a large particular ceiling piece crushed him, he couldn't tell what it was, nor could he warn Justin, who the object was aimed at. He cried out but it was muffled, so he was forced to watch helplessly as his brother was struck in his right shoulder with enough force to spin him around and launch him toward the floor. He screamed and tried to claw his way to Justin but was being pulled out of the room's destruction, the last thing he was a chunk of ceiling landing on top of his brother.

Max kicked his feet up against the doorway to prevent them from leaving the Lair but the Hunter simply pulled him away from the wall and turned around, walking them out backwards. He struggled and fought as he was pulled out into the Substation.

"ENOUGH CHILD!" a strong voice yelled out, it surprised Max enough to freeze him. Max watched as a strange man who was dressed in the same dark clothing as the other hunters but was mask-less walk down the stairs from his apartment flat, and his parents came to his mind. The man was tall, with long black curly hair and a black mustache and beard. His pale skin contrasted heavily against the black glowing giving him an almost demonic look.

"Are you going to behave?"

Max stared at him angrily, blaming everything from his missing parents and sister to Justin's- he refused to even think of the possibility, on this man.

The Man chuckle and raised his hands as if pleading his innocent. "I just want to talk." The Man sat himself at one of the Substation's tables and motioned the chair in front of him. The hunters moved him forward to stand before the table.

"My men will release you if you promise to behave, do you promise?"

Max remained silent but The Man took it as an agreement and with a wave of his hand, Max was released and forced into the chair, hands held strongly onto his shoulders.

Max wiped away his tears with the palm of his hands, refusing to look weak in front of the devil.

"I'm glad you are willing to comply," The Man said and motioned at the table; a Hunter stepped close with a black hard briefcase in hand and placed it on the table.

Max watched uncharacteristically silent as The Man took off his black gloves and placing them on the table. He then opened the case and pulled out white surgical gloves.

"You know I heard about you Russos, the Protectors you are called, am I correct?"

Max didn't answer, not only because he did not know what the man was talking about, but also because he wanted nothing to do with him.

The Man once again chuckled and waved his hands dismissively before picking up a needle out of the suitcase. "Never mind, I heard the younger generation of Russos were unaware, but even so, you children managed to single handedly take out ten of my men. I am impressed."

"Where are my parents?" Max questioned crossing his arms, looking defiantly at the man. He tried to shrug of the strong hold on his shoulder but was unable to.

"They are safe with us, don't worry you will join them shortly," The Man replied with no hesitation. "Any other questions?"

The Man was quick to reply and it did not stir him from his concentration of checking the vial attached.

"Who are you?"

"A Wizard Hunter of course, that much I'm sure you already know. As for who I am personally, that is of no concern of yours at the moment, so those pleasantries we'll skip for now, although I know who you are, Maximillian. However if it's just a name you want, I have been known to be called, The Wizard Doctor…cheesy huh?"

Max ignored the statement as his eyes followed the needle which was set on the table.

"What is that?

The Wizard Doctor laughed again before examining another vial, "It will prevent you from using magic when the liquid enters your system. I invented it myself, which actually explains the name. Anyway the solution will have to be administered every forty eight hours until your powers are fully removed from you."

As an afterthought, the Doctor continued, "Just to warn you though, the side effects have been known to be somewhat painful, nothing compared to the magic extraction pain, of course, but painful nonetheless."

"I don't like needles," Max said his eyes shooting toward the door.

"Nobody does, but it will be like a little pinch, so no reason to be afraid."

"I don't like pinches," Max rambled and once again the doctor laughed.

"It will be alright."

"I don't like people telling me it will be alright," Max continued; he had clear a shot for the door.

"Let's find out shall we? Place your right arm on the table," when Max hesitated, the Doctor plastered a smile for the youngest Russo, causing him to seem even more sinister, and picked up the needle. Either you do it, or my men will do it for you, your choice."

Max raised his hands in mock surrender, just as the Doctor had. "I'm thinking about it, no need to pressure me. I mean my family pressures me all the time about things. Like my mom, just once I'd like for have a cupcake for breakfast, but does she ever let me, no? What about you, do you ever wonder why oranges can't wear socks, but people can?"

The doctor's expression twisted in confusion. "What-what are you talking about? All I want you to do is put your arm on the table so I could inject this serum into you to stop you from using magic and then take you and your family away and possible have you destroyed."

The two blinked at each other in surprise.

"Uhh…"

"Arm," The doctor ordered losing his patience, never have he had to deal with someone as…confusing, as the young teenager before him.

"Chill Man, I was just trying to…" Max mumbled under his breath, while stretching his arm across the table. He was ignored by the doctor who grabbed and swabbed his arm with alcohol pads, probably deciding to ignore the boy.

The Man lifted the needle off the table and brought it close to Max's arms when he heard the young boy continue muttering something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"_Lefty loosy, righty tighty, have those knots extra mighty." _Max muttered before anyone could realize it was a spell, it was active. Max took the moment to kick out a leg at the table sending it at the man causing him to fall back, the table landing on top of him. In the confusion the Hunter holding him let go, and Max spun around quickly and shoved at him, he fell with ease because he couldn't catch his footing. Max shot up to his feet knocking the chair backwards and he sprinted forwards.

"HELP HELP!" Max yelled running towards the door before he could be stopped. A Few Hunters on guard moved to catch him, but fell forward. The spell Max used caused everyone's shoes laces to double tie both together in a knot causing them to fall when they stepped forward. A classic Max prank.

Max didn't take the time to enjoy his prank as he dodged tables and chairs and purposely knocking them over behind his path to prevent anyone who escaped his spell.

Max busted through the shops doors and yelled once outside. "SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME! THEY'RE TRYING TO KILL ME!" He screamed out in fear.

"SOMEONE GRAB HIM!" The Doctor screamed, trying to separate his shoelaces but finding it impossible, he had no choice but to pull them off.

Max ran down the street, all the while shouting for help, when something hard connected hard with his the back of his head. It caused his vision to double and blur, his step faulted enough to fall. Max became dazed and confused unaware of what was going on as he was picked up from the ground and brought back into the shop.

The Doctor was yelling something, but he couldn't process the words and only vaguely felt his right arm being held out and something prinked it. His head tolled to the side as he was picked up over someone shoulder and only knew he was outside when he felt the cool New York City air, against the wetness of his back scalp.

Max thought he heard a car door being open and was tossed carelessly inside. He thought he heard a door shut close and the car driving off. He thought he heard his parents yell out his name as his vision doubled again and the sounds became fuzzy as he was pulled into a warm embrace. Max thought he heard someone, he father perhaps, asked where Justin was, and thought he muttered the word; _dead. _If that happened then the piercing scream he thought he heard coming from his mother, before he surrendered into the darkness, would make sense.

As it was, Max blood soaked head fell back against Jerry's shoulder and he knew no more.

Along with Alex who slept away in the floor of her room undisturbed.

And Justin who lay lifeless on the on the floor underneath the destruction of the Lair.


	6. Taken

**Summary**: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

**DISCLAIMER**: WOWP does not belong to me, however like me it is owned by Disney; That's right, you read correctly, Disney owns me and my soul, for I am working down here in Walt Disney World in Florida. I would say someone kill me, but Disney have those rights too I believe... (i find this funny, so i'll keept it for another chapter)

**Pairings: Jalex **(of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

**Notes: FIRST and FOREMOST I would like to apologize to anyone who gets offended by this chapter. There is mention of a child with autism and I'm not sure if he is portrayed correct. It took me two days of research to find a type of characteristic and I'm still not slightly satisfied. It is a minor role and he will return in furture chapters, but I do not want to offend anyone. If you have any comments on it please let me know in a review (cheapshot at getting one, but i'll take it). **And I am aware of the dates and ages i stated, it's not a miscalculation on my part, my beta pointed it out and I'm just letting you know about it. It's his kid they got married after, if anyones wondering.

**Beta: brokenflower**; Thanks for your input

_On with the story

* * *

_

_Chapter 5_

_Taken_

Sasha Barletty adjusted her scarf over her micro-braids she walked down the hall to her son, David's room. She opened the door and turned on the lights but flipped the switch back off when she noticed the open shades were providing more than enough light from the sun. She shook her head, wondering how her son was able to sleep with the amount of light rushing into the room.

"David, baby, time to wake up," she said smoothly, walking to the messy bed. She frowned as she approached it and pulled back the covers, her suspicions correct. Empty.

Sasha sighed and turned around to the corner by the window and shook her head at the figure curled up in a light sheet on the floor. She walked over to the lump on the floor and bent over gently prodding the shoulders of her sleeping son.

"David, boy, get up, how many times have I told you to stop drawing in the middle of the night," Sasha scolded gently, pulling her seven year old son in a sitting position, he tried to pull away sleepy but she resisted. "Come on, baby, we have to get you to therapy."

"Hmmm…Maxxx…" David whined pulling away and pointing to out the window.

"No David, Max is probably still sleeping right about now, same as Alex," Sasha paused, "although Justin may be up, anyway, you can play later."

David numbly shook his head and pointed at his drawing that was on the floor beside him. "Maxxx…nnnnhmmm…"

Sasha sighed, ignoring her son's rambling she struggled to pull him to his feet, but he held onto his weight and wouldn't budge. It was something she was quite used to, he was the most unresponsive in the mornings. David pulled away from his mother and once again mumbled the name and pointing at his drawings on the floor next to him.

Sasha gave up momentarily and slumped onto the floor next to him, watching as David fiddled with his hands, and his head nodded off to the side. She felt a familiar pain shoot through her heart as she looked upon her son; she wondered how life was unfair to give her a child with autism.

But she smiled and gently pushed back his hair behind his ears before lifting his chin so his eyes could meet hers. He was still her son and she wouldn't trade him for anyone else in the world, he was her world.

"How about this, let's get you ready for therapy and after that, I'll take you over to see if Max can play," she tried to reason.

If anything he was like his father, Martino: give him a little of something he wants, he'll do anything you want.

"Mommmmy….Maxx…" David shook his head furiously, and moved to pick up his drawings.

"Well what do you want me to do? Find out where Max is?"

David nodded but lifted the paper to his mother who gently took them. Sasha took the drawings and without glancing at them and set them aside on the table nearby.

"Nooo look." David was still learning new words so complete sentences weren't easily formed.

Sasha sighed and picked up the drawing again, hoping to appease her son to get him up, and she froze at them.

It's not the fact that her son was an autistic savant; his drawings were always the most beautiful she has ever seen, her maternal feelings aside. David had the ability to look upon something once and draw it perfectly. He always managed to bring life to his drawings.

That's not why Sasha froze, although the drawing was another masterpiece. What stopped Sasha were the pictures themselves.

David drew several pictures; one was of two figures that held a strong resemblance to Theresa and Jerry being brought out by three dark figures to the open back doors of a white truck. Their hands were being held behind their back, and they looked like they had gags over their mouths, from what of their face that could be seen. Only a sole street lamp illuminated the scene.

Sasha flipped to the next picture, and that one made her stomach drop.

It was Max.

He was being carried over the shoulder of one of those dark figures. He hung there almost lifelessly. The whole picture was done in black and white; expect for the back of Max's head, it was red.

Sasha flipped to the next picture and the scene was of the man climbing into the passenger side of the white truck. He was unlike the rest of the dark figures he was without mask and additionally without shoes unlike the rest of the dark figures but also shoeless. The image was of the man looking over his shoulder staring up, almost as with a knowing glance. As if the man knew he was being watched.

Sasha looked up at her son fear etched across her face, she slowly turned to face outside the window and down at the apartment and Subshop, it was unusually quiet.

"Maxxx," he muttered again, his hands fidgeting.

Sasha blinked out of her trance and stood up. "MARTY!" she clutched the pictures in her hands and ran out the room.

"MARTY!" Sasha yelled as she raced through their flat. When she entered the living room, she found her husband eating a bowl of cereal on the counter of their connecting kitchen.

Twenty-seven year old Martino, or Marty, looked up just in time to have papers shoved in his face. He grasped at them blindly pulling them from his face and turning to his wife of five years.

"What's your deal?" he asked annoyed as two of the papers slid to the floor, he bent down to pick them up and putting them on the counter beside his bowl of Fruity Pebbles.

"The Russos…" she said, her hands shaking.

Marty groaned and nodded his head, "I agree, last night they were just too loud. I know we never said anything because of the breakthrough with Dave, but come-on babe, can't we ask them to try to keep it down at night? All that yelling and banging…it sounded like a war or something."

Sasha shook her head, "Not what I meant you idiot…your son drew…look at them." She turned on him and pointed at the drawing.

Marty stared at his wife who was spreading out all three drawings on the counter. He stared at the scenes before him.

"You know that David only draws what he sees, he can't do anything else. He saw that…I think they are in trouble Marty."

"Maybe it's…"

"NO!" Sasha interrupted before he could disagree; she shook her head and grabbed his hands. "These are your son drawings, when has it been anything, _anything _other than what he sees."

Marty eyebrows dipped into a frown, "Do you really think?"

"They were louder than normal, Marty," she reasoned "I have a bad feeling on this…can you go check?"

"But it's only seven-"

"Please…please…just go check."

Marty sighed and looked at his wife. He always wondered how she always managed to get her way with him. He nodded and stuffed what little of his cereal he had in his mouth and put the bowl in the sink.

He walked to the door with Sasha on his trail; he paused at the open door and turned to his wife. Vivid blue met dark Brown.

"For the record, I think this is ridiculous."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sasha mumbled before pushing her husband out of their home, and turning to rush back to her sons' room. David was sitting on the floor looking up when she entered.

Sasha grabbed him and sat him on her lap by the window, looking carefully when they saw Marty leave the apartment complex and walked next door to the Russos.

Marty sighed as he approached the Russo's Subshop, he slowed down and turned to look up at his apartment, his wife and their son were hanging by the window, and he could see her hands waving him forward.

Goddamn nosy-ass wife, he thought as he walked up the steps to the Subshop. Marty paused at the door and peered inside. He frowned at what he saw; tables and chairs were knocked and thrown over. He ignored the uneasy feeling in his heart, as he grabbed the handle.

He was expecting the door to be locked, but it wasn't. His brows dipped as he pulled the door open, with one quick glance at his family, he entered the shop.

Marty looked around and knew something wasn't right; all the middle tables along with the table's condiments and chairs were knocked carelessly over. Jerry would never stand for the Substation to be in such a state. Jerry Russo cared for his shop as if it was his fourth child, always claiming that it would never let him down, like his would. They always laughed after that joke. But Marty had a sinking suspicion that Jerry was somewhat serious.

Marty looked around at an odd table standing upright; debris, napkins and condiments scattered around it suggesting they were either pushed off or had fallen off. He walked to it and looked around, something dark caught his eyes on the edge of the black marble table, and he noticed it was also on the beige floors.

"Blood," he muttered standing back up. Now he was getting nervous as his wife's worries filled his head.

"JERRY, THERESA!" Marty called and walked to the counter hoping one would be around. He tried peering into the kitchen but ventured behind the counter. Marty entered the kitchen, empty, he turned to the freezer door that was slightly adjured.

Marty went straight for it, but tripped over air when he reached for the door, he end up closing it. Marty cursed under his breath, because he stubbed his finger on the door when he caught himself from falling, and pulled open the door.

The freezer was empty too. He closed the door, and made his way out the kitchen and started for the stairs that took him to the Russos apartment. He froze when he realized that the door leading into their apartment was wide open.

"JERRY, THERESA," Marty called out, trying to alert someone of his presence. He stepped into the living room and stopped in his tracks. The living room looked as if a hurricane passed through. Furniture was all over the place, broken shards from lamps were littering the floor. The walls look as if it took a bomb to it.

"JUSTIN, ALEX, MAX!" Marty yelled as fear took hold of his heart. He raced around the apartment, hoping to find any sign of life from his neighbors and friends. He called their names throughout his search only to come out empty.

The whole apartment was empty and destroyed. The hallway leading up to the bedrooms, they looked light a fire was lit upon it. He reached for his pockets and realized he forgot his cell phone at home. Marty saw the Russos house phone on the floor sticking out from under the pushed over couch and dove for it. He turned it on and held it up to his ear for the dial tone, there was none.

The phone was off.

Marty grew fearful and looked around, spotting a window; he opened it and stuck his head out the window. It was one of the windows that faced his apartment; he looked up a flight and saw his wife sticking her head out too.

"CALL THE POLICE." Marty yelled, cupping his mouth.

"WHAT?"

"CALL THE POILCE; I THINK THE RUSSOS HAVE BEEN TAKEN." He yelled again. He watch as his wife reacted dropping her mouth. Sasha nodded and disappeared into their home.

Marty pulled back in and looked around at the broken and torn apartment. His hands fisted and his arms crossed.

"Where could they be?" He questioned before deciding it was best to wait for the police outside.

An hour later, the Barletty's found themselves in their living room, explaining the situation to the detectives.

"Last night, they were loud; I was going to go over to them sometime today to speak to them about it," Marty said sitting on his couch, beside his wife and looking up at the officer. He decided to forgo work today, feeling the need to stay close to his family.

"But you have to understand," Sasha interrupted, her fingers played in David's hair who was sitting by her side. "The Russos are a loud family, so of course we wouldn't think anything different from last night and another night. But I did think they were louder than usual."

"Have you notice anyone particular hostile to the Russos?"

The two shook their heads, "No, that's what I can't understand. I mean yes, sometimes people get upset with them because they can be so loud, and this neighborhood is usually quiet but usually they get over that. Jerry and Theresa are good people; they would go out of the way to help others. Justin, he's a good kid with a bright future, and always looking after his brother and sister. Alex….well Alex is…Alex…" she hesitated, "but she holds a special place in our hearts. And Max…he's the weird one, but you can't help but love him."

Sasha sighed and latched onto the hands of her two important males in her life, "The only issue that were to come up was when there was a petition against the Russo Family Game Night," she laughed and shook her head, "they get violent and some neighbors have been known to call the police. But other than that, they're good people. I can't imagine anyone wanting to harm them."

Detective Roscoe took the notes down in his pad, "How did you come across them this morning? You went to talk to them about the noise?"

"Not initially, my wife was already worried about them. She wanted me to go check on them?"

"Why were you worried, Mrs. Barletty?"

"It was my son, when I went to wake him up for therapy, he has autism, he was so insistent about showing me his drawings. He has the ability to see something once and can draw it perfectly. I think the noise woke him up and he saw what happened. He drew it…the pictures I gave to you." She motioned to the second detective looking over the drawings in her hand.

"You think he saw what happened?" Roscoe turned to the small boy who burred himself under his mother.

"He won't talk to you," Sasha answered, "he only talks to about a hand full of people; my husband and I, his therapist, Lucy, and the Russo children."

"Really?" Detective Ames said handing over the drawings to her partner; they were good, but showed only what the street light could show.

Sasha nodded, "Yeah, they were the reason why he draws, well Alex really. A year or so ago, we had just moved in and me and Marty was pulling stuff off the truck, David wandered over to the Russo's Subshop and Alex was there apparently drawing on the steps. She gave him paper and a pencil and let him draw with her. She said it was so he wouldn't start whining to her or something. I don't know, but I was grateful; before that, David never opened up. A lot of time he would just sit there and stare off, but drawing helped him. She helped in discovering that side of him, we had never known. He started talking more, and interacting more, and he loved the Russo kids."

Sasha tried to stop the tears that were forming but failing miserable. "David's not good with his words, but Justin, Alex, and Max, are so patient and helpful with him…they spend time with him, and play-" she paused and Marty wrapped his arms around his wife. "Who would do this to them? They are good people… they gave my son his life back. Please help them."

The story touched Ames heart, she knew what it was like to live with someone with autism, her sister has it. She understood what the Russos meant to the Barletty's. "We will, Mrs. Barletty, we'll find them. Don't worry about it. First we're going to have to contact their family, see if they just had a family emergency and had to leave last night, or if foul play really was involved. We're going to need family numbers, if you have any, and photos?"

"Uh, yeah we do," Marty said standing up, and walking over to a side table, opening up the drawer. "Jerry asked us to keep an eye on his kids once due to a family emergency; they had to leave for Theresa's mother's home and gave us the number in case of an emergency. We still have that." He pulled out a small slip of paper, and showed it to the police.

Sasha moved also, "A couple of weeks ago was David's seventh birthday, I took pictures." She pulled open a kitchen drawer and pulled out an envelope of printed pictures. She flipped through them, and pulled ones she took of Russo family. She handed them over to the male detective, who took them along with the numbers and the drawings.

"Is it alright if we question David?"

"I don't know. He's already upset about everything so far." Sasha turned to watch Marty pick up David who wrapped his arms around his neck.

"We have a specialized therapist who can speak to him, and if you want your therapist can sit in on the interview."

Sasha turned to Marty who shared a gaze with her. He cleared his throat before answering. "We'll do anything in our power to help; we'll contact his therapist and then you."

Detective Ames said with a small smile and handed Marty her business card. "Thank you."

The two detectives headed out the door, with the couple following them downstairs.

"Detectives, in your professional opinion, what do you think happened?"

Detective Ames looked back at Sasha and paused on the before opening the door that lead outside. "It's hard to say especially before confirming with their family, but…let's hope my professional opinion won't be needed."

Sasha nodded and leaned against her husband who stood behind her. He adjusted his son to one hip and wrapped his hands around his wife, then followed the detectives out.

The scene reminded Sasha of something from the movies; police surrounding the Waverly Subshop, closing it off with yellow tapes, neighbors and strangers along with news crews on the edges wanting to know the story.

"You won't have to worry about them for now." Detective Ames spoke softly slipping on her sunglasses, "As of the moment they don't know who tipped us off, but if anything does come up about the Russo family actually being missing, they may come knocking on your door. We'll try to keep it under control as much as we can."

Sasha and Marty nodded in understanding and watch the two detectives walk off.

"Please keep us updated," Sasha called after them and received a wave in response.

"Hey, isn't that Alex's weird friend?" Marty asked nodding his head to one of the views.

Sasha turned to the pointed direction, "Yeah, Harper, Alex's best friend." She turned to Marty and rubbed her son's back. "I should go talk to her before she hears anything in the news, just in case."

She planted a kiss on her husband before disappearing through the crowd.

"Harper!" She called out into the crowd as she made her way through. She saw Harper look around before settling her eyes on her, and moved to meet her halfway through.

"Mrs. Barletty; how are you? How are Mr. Barletty and David? Oh and before I forget; WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?" Harper asked frantic as she pointed to the police blocking off her best friend's house.

"Oh, Harper," Sasha pulled the girl into a hug, trying to ignore the dress that poofed out as a globe around her legs, and the Earth shaped dangling earrings.

"I-I tried to call over here; because my mother was watching the news; which is unusual for her because she really doesn't get past her shows, but I guess she heard something about Alex's home on TV, so she told me about it-"

"Harper-"

"I tried to call Alex to see what was going on, but she didn't answer, and when I tried to call her at home, it's like her phone was disconnected. Which is even weirder because I know it was working last night, I had to call the house to ask Justin a question, and Alex, being Alex wouldn't pass him the phone. I would have called his cell but he got his number changed-"

"Harper-"

"I guess I was calling him too much which I probably did, I'll admit. But he never gave me his new number, and Alex said she'll give it to me later; she couldn't be bothered to look into her phone while we were talking. However, if it's between you and me, I think she got bribed not to give it out, but I know she was going to give it to me; sooner or later-"

"Harper-"

"But anyway, no one even answered their cell phones, Alex, Mr. and Mrs. Russo, no one. I'm worried, should I be-"

"HARPER!" Sasha yelled finally able to stop the young girl's ranting, by planting her hands on both sides of the girl's cheek. Harper had tears in her eyes and was breathless due to her rant, she was shaking with worry.

"I'm worried, Mrs. Barletty, and no one is telling me anything."

"Follow me," Sasha grabbed Harper's hand and pulled her though the crowd, so no one could hear their conversation, and pulled them to her apartment. She waved her husband away and lead Harper to the inside of the building and sat with the girl whose tears were rapidly falling down her face, on the steps of the hallway.

"What's going on?" The crying teen asked again, pulling tissue from her Earth globe purse.

Sasha sighed as wondered what should she tell the young girl, who was leaning against the wall of the stairway.

"The police are hoping that the Russo had to leave sometime in the middle night for a family emergency, and maybe a robber broke in afterward," Sasha explained slowly.

"I doubt that, Mr. Russo and Alex wouldn't get up for anything after they fall asleep; and I just spoke to them last night. Alex would have called me-"

"I know, I know," Sasha interrupted again, hoping to defer the girl from ranting again. She sighed, that wasn't working. She tried from a different angle. "My husband went in there first, because I was worried about them. They were very loud last night, louder than usual and David drew pictures of…things…and I just wanted Marty to just check on them."

She took a deep breath and hoped she was doing the right thing telling Harper the truth.

"He said the place was trashed, and he couldn't find any signs of them. He called and searched the house, and nothing. I'm hoping that the police are correct in their family emergency story, and not that they were…kidnapped. Besides, who would kidnap a whole family?"

Harper froze in her spot and looked at Sasha and fresh tears formed. "They were taken?" she asked jumping up from her seat on the step, she paced the small area of the hallway before collapsing on the wall.

"Alex told me about them…" Harper muttered under her breath to herself, "she thought her dad was just being too worried but she said it's was going to be nothing."

"What?" Sasha asked catching the girl's words; she moved to kneel beside the girl who sunk to the floor.

Harper shook her head, but wrapped her arms around herself.

She broke into a struggle sob and looked up at Sasha, "I think I lost my best friend forever, Mrs. Barletty." She wrapped her arms around Sasha and cried.

Sasha could only hold onto the girl tightly as thoughts passed through her minds; what exactly is going on here? Does Harper know?

Sasha looked up at the door and saw her husband standing there watching them through the small window on the floor. He nodded up the steps. She didn't know if he heard anything, but she already agreed, it would be best if she moved Harper to her apartment.

"Come on, Harper, let's get you upstairs." She said pulling the girl to her feet and leading them upstairs.

Harper could only follow shaking, as one thought crossed her mind, _The Hunters took them._


	7. Awaken Realizations

**Summary**: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

**DISCLAIMER**: WOWP does not belong to me, however like me it is owned by Disney; That's right, you read correctly, Disney owns me and my soul, for I am working down here in Walt Disney World in Florida. I would say someone kill me, but Disney have those rights too I believe... (i find this funnysee... I kept it)

**Pairings: Jalex **(of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

**Notes: Sorry about the long wait. Please be patient with me and my beta, we both have lives we live**.

**Beta: brokenflower**; Thanks for your help, sorry for being such a nag.

_On with the story_

_

* * *

_

_Chapter 6_

_Awaken Realizations_

The remnants of Justin's magic lifted off the still body, releasing her from its strong hold. Unlike most spells, which last only a few hours, this one lasted as instructed from the caster;_ until there's safety._

In a very way that was very true to Justin and his personality the magic did not leave until all forms of danger were no longer present; the hunters were clearly gone and the police were no longer entering the house. Exposure was no longer a risk.

_Three days later _

Alex's eyes fluttered softly, before blinking rapidly upon her awakening. She yawned and pulled herself up and looked around, but couldn't see anything beyond her nose. She reached her arm out to the right in search of the lamp that was always there, and when she felt it and clicked it on, nothing happened. She groaned and stretched before letting her hand slip underneath her pillow, and successfully pulling out her wand.

_"Illumination," _she spoke lazily with a yawn. Her wand tip lit up and she looked around and blinked in confusion when she realized that her room windows were gone. Her confusion ran short as realization sunk in. She was put in the floor by her father and brother. She growled under her breath and turned her wand on herself, muttering a spell she disappeared from the Wizard shelter and reappeared in her own room. Her eyes narrowed as she moved to take a step but tripped and fell on the floor. She looked down and noticed for the first time the long prink dress, and heels she was wearing.

"A princess dress…really...Justin." she growled, fisting her hands. She pointed her wand again, changing her clothes to normal, and climbed off the floor. She made a beeline for the door and yanked it open

"JUSTIN, that wasn't funny-" Alex swallowed her words as her gaze locked on the smoldering black wall opposite her door. A black burnt spot stood in place of floral wall paper and a yellow card taped with the number eight written on it in black marker.

Alex looked around noticing other smoldering indents on the wall and her breath hitched. She closed the door behind her as she stepped into the hall.

"Justin, Dad, Mom…Max?" she called out, making her way down the eerie silent hallway, her wand clutched tightly as a weapon, ready to come to her defense as one. She stopped in front of her older brother's door, and pushed the cracked door, wide open.

Empty. The covers pushed uncaringly to the side, as if he left in a rush. Her thoughts returned to that night, and her fear grew as she remembered the words _wizard hunters_ mentioned.

Alex closed the door as she backed out the room and wrapped her arms around her. She slowly made her was down the hall and stopped at Max's room; she pushed it open slowly and peeked inside. She looked from Max's bed to the open window, and fear crawled up her throat.

Max never left his windows open in case he was unknowingly or knowingly, depending on the day of the week, harboring some creature from the wizard world, and he didn't want them to escape. She didn't have to try searching through the room to know he wasn't in it.

Alex pulled the door closed and took a moment to catch her breath, it became a struggle. She looked to her right at the last door in the hall. She slowly walked to the door and wiped away tears as she clutched the doorknob. She turned the doorknob and when she heard the click she slowly pulled it open.

She thought her heart stopped. Her breathing became labored and as her hands flew to cover her mouth in shock, she chocked on her sob as she entered the room.

The room was destroyed, pictures were knocked over, both lamps on the small desk on either side of the bed was destroyed; one of them had landed on the opposite room as if it was thrown. The dresser mirror was littering the floor along with everything that was on the dresser. The bed's duvet and sheets except the fitted were on littering the floor. The window curtains were pulled off the windows and laid under the window. The numbered yellow cards were placed by most of the destroyed items.

Alex fisted her hands and without missing a beat, she ran out of the room; calling out to anyone, hoping someone was there. Ignoring the burning sensation that was brought upon by unshed tears, Alex quickly descended the stairs, stopping momentarily to assess the destruction of the living room. Pressing nails stabbed into her palms as fear choked her throat; the damage of the living room scared her.

Alex forced her body forward slowly, moving around the falling furniture and objects. She made it to the door that lead to the Subshop and descended the stairs. Reaching the bottom, she let her hands unconsciously tear apart the yellow police tape before moving through the shop.

The young wizard looked and took in the destruction of her family's restaurant; it wasn't as bad as her house. Only the middle tables were knocked off; salt, pepper, napkins and her precious sugar made a mess on the floor. Something on the lone table that stood in the middle caught her eyes she hugged herself as she stepped forward.

It was another yellow card with the number four written on it, she picked up the folded card and on the other side, was the word _blood_ written on it in black letters. She lifted her gaze to the table and noticed large drops of blood that made a path out the door.

Alex looked outside noticing for the first time that it was dark outside, her eyes found the clock that held position on the wall, and noticed it was almost ten. Waverly Place shops would usually be closed by now, theirs included.

Alex gaze ran across the blood drops again and feared that it was someone from her family, and then she worried over the type of injury they had.

"MOM, DAD!" Alex screamed on the top of her lungs and backed away from the offending table. She almost tripped over a fallen table but ignored it with a harsh kick and turned to sprint to the kitchen. She touched the freezer door with hands infused with magic and pulled it open revealing the Lair.

"JUSTIN, MAX!" She cried out hoping that someone was in there, she only made it to the hallway but couldn't move forward. A large amount of debris from the walls and ceiling blocked the path, and her movements caused the air to stir, causing dust to rise.

Alex coughed as she tried to wave the air away from her, but it only caused more unsettlement. Alex reached for her wand and pointed from the floor moving upward.

_"DESTRUCTION RESTRUCTION!" _

The spell reversed the destruction of the room as the debris was falling up place to form a ceiling once again, and broken objects fixing themselves. Alex backed away from the self-construction and covered herself until everything in the room stopped.

When she sensed the calmness in the air, Alex pulled down her arms from covering her head, "JUST-"

Alex paused as she saw the five black strangers laid unconscious in the clean Lair. She knew what they were without having to think about it. She knew they were the reason for the family disappearance and the destruction of her home. She knew they were what she father warned about.

The Wizard Hunters.

Alex backed into the wall in fear that one would jump up and attack her. She held out her wand in defense. She didn't know what to do, she questioned if they were even alive, and that sent her mind reeling and her unsure thoughts of what to do doubled.

Right now the only thing she knew she wanted was them as far from her and her home as possible, so without a another thought she pointed her wand.

_"Strangers I know not, take them to another spot." _They rotated position; Alex bit her bottom lip and tried again.

_"I don't care how, I don't care where, just take them far away from here."_ They didn't move at all Alex could hear Justin in her mind berating her about the need for specifics when it came to magic.

_"These strangers broke into my home, so without bail; send them to Long Island County Jail." _It was the first place she thought about and was filled with relief when the five disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She dropped her arm and slid to the floor, her back against the wall. She collapsed her head on her knees and cried. She was alone and felt lost, her thoughts turned to her family who was gone and she probably was never going to see again. Alex let herself fall to her side on the floor, as she curled into a tight ball.

Alex lost track of time; she knew she cried until she could produce no more tears and she just laid there in the ball, her mind drifting away. But she had no real concept in how long that was. She ignored her hunger and thrust, opting only to look blankly at the wizard door.

It wasn't until she heard movement that she realized that her body tensed up. She ignored the pain in her neck and limbs as she pushed herself up with her hands.

A groan was heard, and it came from the other side of couch which blocked her vision.

Alex grabbed her wand in fear that she missed one of the hunters and slowly crawled forward. She crept on all fours because her muscles wouldn't listen to her to stand, and so she could keep out of sight in case it was a hunter. Alex rushed forward until she was hidden behind her father's favorite orange chair, and pulled herself completely behind it.

She took a deep breath in preparation and thoughts of her family strengthened her resolution. Alex tightened her wand and slowly moved to one side of the couch, ever-so-slightly, she peeked around the couch, but pulled back when she saw a tan hand.

She sucked in air and went around the other way of the couch.

It was sneakers, she frowned, sneakers that looked familiar, they looked like the black and white converse she convinced Justin to buy for himself in attempt for him to look less dorky. She pulled herself up with the help of the couch.

"JUSTIN." She yelped as she saw her brother laid out on his side beside the coffee table. He was unconscious and not moving, but she was just happy to see him. She moved forward, but her muscles were still tight causing her to collapse on the floor behind the couch again.

Alex ignored her predicament and crawled around the couch crawled on her hands and knees to her brother.

"Justin," she said crawled to his head and sat back on her legs. She shook his shoulders and when he moaned she almost cried, _he's alive_.

There was dry blood that ran from a cut on his head into his hair, along with the dry blood that was soaked through his yellow shirt on his right shoulder.

"Justin," she said again, grasping his face in her hands, she patted gently his face on the uninjured side and smiled when his eyes fluttered.

"Come on Justin, please wake up. I need you. I don't know what to do; I don't know where anyone else is? Please wake up, wake up." She cried resting her forehead against her brothers. Tears ran from her eyes to his face leaving a trail.

_"Please…I need you." _She whispered, through her cries.

She didn't notice until weight rested on the back her neck. Alex pushed back but was pulled down to Justin's neck.

_"_Alex_," _Justin groaned softly, holding onto his sister for life with his left hand, his right immobile. She was safe, thank God.

Alex cried harder as she stretched out next to her brother, struggling to wrap her arms around his neck. He lifted his head so should could do so, uncaring that she pressed against his injuries; he just bit his cheek and held his little sister tighter with his good arm.

He had been in living hell for an unknown period of time. He had managed to perform a small spell that softened some of the blows from the falling ceiling, and form a cocoon around himself. But that only helped to keep him alive.

He had been slipping back and forth into consciousness from underneath the pile of rubble. When he did awaken, the time was filled with so much physical and mental pain that he couldn't perform any spells. The thought of death played into his mind, along with the worries about his family; his parents and Max and Alex and before he could attempt to try to help himself, his physical pain would take over and he would slip into unconsciousness again.

He didn't know how many hours and days passed that he lay in that spot, but he felt it instantly when he could breath freely again, a weight was lifted off of him. Now the feeling of heavy weight returned but he'd rather deal with that.

At least he had Alex with him, next was his parents and Max-

"MAX" Justin yelled sitting up carrying along his sister, and instantly regretting it. He curled over into a ball grasping his chest, as a burning and stabbing sensation attacked his chest. He gasped as he curled to his side as his forehead met with the ground. Tears cornered his eyes.

"JUSTIN, are you okay?" Alex asked grasping her brother's forearm, he was scaring her.

"Wa-" Coughing made it impossible to breathe much less talk; every harsh cough left him with the feeling of someone stabbing him merciless with a burning knife. He brought his left hand over his lips as a particular cough cut off his airways until he managed to suck in air gaspingly. "…water…" he squeezed out.

Alex nodded fearfully, and turned to look around. "I'll be right back, don't die." She said fearfully, jumping up and running out of the room.

Justin struggled to control his breathing as the coughing fit left him. When he heard his sister leave, he slowly sat back up and looked at his hand; it was covered in mucus and blood. He grimaced in disgust. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand to clear away.

"Justin," Alex said returning with a glass and pitcher of water. She sat on the floor beside him pouring him water into the glass.

Justin grimaced again when he wiped the blood on the underneath side of his dark blue jeans, it was disgusting, but he would rather do that then let his sister worry about him even more so. Justin tried to raise his right hand to take the glass from his sister stretched hands but the pain from his shoulder left his arm numb. He rubbed his left hand against his jeans again and slowly raised to grab the glass.

Even in his left hand, the glass felt heavy, his energy was quickly depleting. He struggled to bring the glass to his lips, and in the end, Alex helped him.

"Are you okay n-"

Justin barely got a gulp of water down before he coughed it up, it was painful to swallow. However he just wiped his mouth and took smaller sips.

Alex pulled the glass away from Justin as watched as he bent sideways against the glass table breathing heavily. She pulled out a small towel from her pocket that she grabbed when she went to retrieve the water. She folded and poured some water on it from the glass. She moved closer to her brother and with the towel, she began dabbing at the deep cut on the side of his forehead.

Justin grabbed her hand weakly and pulled it away from him with a shake of his head.

"Get Max," he said looking at her sideways from his position.

Alex perked up when she heard him. "Where is he?"

"Mars, I told him to go to Mars." He groaned as he wrapped his arms around his stomach, "Go find him, I told him that I would go for him when it's safe."

Alex nodded, "Okay, but you should probably get on the couch, you don't look that good."

"I'm fine, just get Max."

Alex rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Do you really want to spend the next five minutes with me arguing over why you should probably get on the couch, when in the end you're just going to end up on it anyway, and then I go look for Max. Or would you rather just do as I say now, skip the argument so I could be on my way already."

Justin looked at his sister and sighed, "Fine," he grumbled and tried to push himself up with his good arm. He almost fell back, but Alex managed to catch him beforehand and the two of them struggled getting him to the long couch, where Justin collapsed with a groan, his eyes watered with pain.

"I'll get him," Alex said as she helped her brother lay back.

"Be safe, Alex."

Alex nodded, "_Transportium Nextorbitorium_."

Justin sighed letting his body relax; things would be okay now-.

No, things would never be okay again, not until the entire Russo family was back together again. At least he had Alex with him, and Max when she brought him back. It was a matter of locating their parents. He guessed that since Alex came alone, they must have been taken.

Justin felt a sting in his heart when he thought of his parents. Their father made sure to protect them first before him and their mother. And now…who knows where they are.

For the first time, since attacked, and while Alex was away, Justin let himself cry. He through his left arm over his face, and let the tears flow. He probably wouldn't be able to do it after his siblings get back, he'd have to be strong for them.

It wasn't long before he unknowingly slipped into oblivion.

_"Justin…Justin…" _

The voice sounded far away, too far away to reach, so he allowed himself to slip back underneath the covers of darkness.

_"Justin….wake up Justin…"_

Someone was shaking him, the action caused him pain in his right shoulder so he tried to bat it away with his left, but his hand was grasped.

_"Come on Justin, wake up."_

Justin eyes fluttered open and his vision blurred before they were able to fix onto a very red Alex. He took in her appearance; she was covered in red dust.

"Did you fall? Are you hurt?" he mumbled as he struggled to sit up and at the same time scan her for injuries. Alex helped him up, and sat on the edge next to his knees.

Alex shook her head, "Justin-"

"Where's Max?" Justin looked around, his little brother was nowhere in sight. "MAX!"

"I COULDN'T FIND HIM." Alex cried clutching Justin's left hand to her chest.

Justin looked at his sister confused, couldn't find- "What do you mean, you couldn't find him."

"He's not there, I was searching for hours, and he's not there." Alex cried, that familiar fear that she felt after she woke up to discover her family missing, filled her heart again.

Justin shook his head, "That's impossible, I told him to go there, that's the only spell he could do in his sleep. Are you sure you looked? How long did you look, five minutes?" Justin accused angrily pulling his hand away from her.

Alex shot up from her brother in disbelief, "Five minutes? Justin, it's almost two in the morning, I was gone for almost three hours. You were sleeping."

"I don't believe you," Justin spat at her angrily, "You don't like putting in any work, and when it matters, with our family, you flake on that too."

Alex stomped her foot. "JUSTIN-"

_"Transportium Nextorbitorium" _Justin was gone before Alex could finish her words. She shook her head and crossed her arms, tears falling down her red dust covered cheeks leaving wet streaks in its path. She let out a sob before she followed after her brother.

_"MAX!" _

Alex landed where she landed the first time, she could tell because she tripped over a hidden rock on her first step and face planted in the red sand. She could still see her body's imprint on the sand, but small winds were causing it to disappear.

_"MAX! WHERE ARE YOU?"_

Alex turned at the sound of her brother's voice and spotted him off in a distance, "JUSTIN," she yelled out and ran after him. He was limping along, determined but not fast.

"MAX!"

Alex slowed down next to her brother, and grabbed his arm. "Justin, I looked. He's not here."

"HE HAS TO BE…MAX!"

"JUSTIN, WOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME?"

"NO!" Justin yelled turning onto his sister, he stood over her. "He's here, Alex, he has to be. If he's not…if he's not, then it means I failed protecting my little brother." He couldn't stop his tears that fell, so he wiped them away angrily with the back of his hand.

"Justin…" Alex said softly, "look Justin, you're injured, you shouldn't be here. What if you infect yourself or somethi-"

Justin ignored his sister and walked away again, "MAX!" he screamed himself hoarse. "Maybe he's sleeping, and can't hear us. We just have to look harder."

Alex wiped away her tears as she watched her brother continue limping forward yelling out to their little brother, she followed slowly behind him. He wasn't here, she honestly believed that, she knew right away when she first arrived on Mars, but she looked anyway for hours, after all she didn't feel Justin at first either when she entered the lair.

She should have _felt_ Justin when she first arrived but the sight of the hunters took all ration thoughts away and that fear filled her body blocking out everything else. But when she saw him, she felt him.

Max, she could no longer _feel_.

Alex always was able to know when her brothers were around, _felt_ them when they were close by, just by their magic alone. She didn't think it had anything to do with ESPN, or whatever people called it, but everything to do with the close bond she had with them.

Alex liked to believe that the bond she shared with her brothers was closer than the average bond between siblings. It was more…intimate and intense.

She believed that Justin and Max felt it too, but right now, Justin wanted to ignore it in hopes that it was wrong, and Max was close by.

Justin heaved as he walked along the red dirt tripping over his feet often. It was getting harder for him to breath.

"MAX!" he screamed out. "MAX IT'S JUSTIN, ANSWER ME!" Why isn't he answering? "MAX!"

Justin paused in his aimless wandering and looked around; it was nothing but red dirt for miles without a single sign of life. Justin felt his heart pound heavily as fear filled him. His breath was quickening to the point where he could no longer control it. He felt bile rise, but he pushed it back down. His shaking hands grabbed at his hair as his anxiousness grew.

Tears filled his vision and this time he didn't bother to wipe it away, _Oh God, where was_- "MAX!" He broke into a frantic ran, ignoring his sister who was running after him.

"MAX!"

Justin ignored the black dots slowly filling his vision, and his body's shaking steps.

_Just a little further, _Justin told his failing body, he needed to know that his little brother was safe. That he wasn't take- "MAX!"

Justin legs gave out in mid run and he hit the ground hard, He managed to get to his knees but his stomach protested as bile rose that he couldn't keep down. He threw up liquid on the ground and briefly wondered if it was the red dust that made it look red or was it blood.

He felt something collide softly with his back; he heard his sister's call his name franticly as she tugged on his shirt.

"Max," he gasped out, as his arms gave away and he rolled to his side and on his back. His vision met a dark star filled sky. He tried to catch his breath but failed, the last image he managed to take in was Alex crying over him.

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A/N; I never wanted to put an authors note down here, because i like the last thing they read is the story so they can digest it, but I wanted to answer a question one of my reviewers asked and I didn't think it would be right to put it that beginning, B/c a long authors note before the story who wants to be right.

So the question that was asked by milkduds100, was Why JALEX ROMANCE, if you guys want to read the full question it's in my review. Anyway to answer your question Milkduds, it's kind of difficult simply because everyone has thier own reasoning, so I can't answer for anyone but myself.

What put me on the idea of the question was the movie, pure and simple. There was so much rare emotions between the two that I felt the line blurred beyond the relationship of siblings into something stronger. I saw _love _between two people as lovers , and not as brother and sister, and and also when I pick a couple I never change my prefrences for it. NEVER, altering yes but change nope. Interesting fact; I was watching a review on youtube on the movie, called whatthebuck and even he mentioned seeing a little love blossoming between the two. (Plus I love frorbidden love, there's something hot about it, and they are a forbidden as ever)

Now my feelings for making one of them not real relations I'm against it, and refuse to read any stories with such ideas. I understand what they do and somewhat respect them for it, but I won't read them, which sucks because there probably are really good stories out there. I refuse, lie to myself about them, if you are going to do something then go all the way with it, don't try to sugarcoat it for people who can't handle it, and that includes yourself. Alex and Justin are brother and sister, if you choose to write Jalex, don't lie to make it seem anything less. If you have to lie to yourself to write a storey, then perhaps you shouldn't write it.

I won't do any Jalex where one of them is adopted, because they are not adopted in the show.

Okay, so I'm not sure if this answers your questin Milkduds100, I hope it do, and I kind of want to know what others think. I however don't want to start a big huge discussion because i don't want people to be distracted from Wizard Hunters story because I enjoy writing it for readers. I would love to know what my beta, brokenflower thinks, i probably should have mentioned this part to her before, but better late than never, I say, lol.

Enjoy reading!


	8. His Personal Hell

**Summary**: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

**DISCLAIMER**: WOWP does not belong to me, but the Property of Disney

**Pairings**: Jalex (of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

**Beta: brokenflower**

**Notes: **So, it's been a while right? Hehe. I want you guys to know how sorry I am for the long...year long wait, but I do not take fault! Honestly it wasn't me; it was this stupid chapter and my computer, I've dubbed it My Personal Hell, which is why I fondly renamed it to His Personal Hell. Let me explain, I rewrote this chapter four times, no because I wanted to but because my computer decided it didn't like what I wrote and deleted it. Four Times! Which is why it has taken me this long. But you guys are getting a treat though, it's 17 pgs long on word. But I didn't quit, aren'tcha proud! ^_^.

**This Chapter is now fully Beta'd as promised!**

I promise you won't have to wait a whole year for the next chapter, but maybe a week!

Please Review, tell me what you think

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_Chapter 7_

_His Personal Hell_

When Justin woke up, it was to new surroundings. He was in a bed he never slept in before and in a room he had never been in before. He was cleaner, half naked and heavily bandaged, and took appreciated notice that his body was less sore.

His sister was the first to come to mind; he already lost three people in his life…_Max_...he needed Alex to be safe.

"Alex," he called out in a raspy voice. Trying to search for her was out of the question, having little energy to move. He cleared his throat and tried again, "ALEX!"

He heard rustling beyond a closed door and seconds later it was open and his sister was standing there, looking refreshed and clean. He let out a weak smile and held his left arm out for her.

"Justin…" Alex breathed out and went to her big brother, in the same fashion she did when she first found him, however more mindful of his injuries. She stretched out on the side of the bed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, he caressing it with his right hand, his movements small and awkward to accommodate the dull pain in his right shoulder while his left wrapped powerfully around her shoulders. "I'm sorry for what I said-"

Alex pulled away from Justin batting her tears away, "You better be sorry. I looked for him everywhere, and you accuse me of-"

Alex was cut off when she was pulled against her brother again; she smiled as she curled her hands against his side. Then her family entered her mind. Her smile slowly slipped away, "What are we going to do now, Justin?"

She felt Justin struggling to take in a deep breath and tried to pull away in fear of hurting him, but was only held onto tighter.

"I don't know," Justin whispered softly, tucking her head under his chin, "I'll think of something."

"We have to find them, Justin," Alex said softly as she closed her eyes pushing into her brother as if trying to escape her pain in his arms.

"I know, Justin replied glancing up at the unfamiliar tiled ceiling, he frowned, "Where are we Alex?"

Alex glanced up at her older brother before pushing herself away, his arms finally falling free so she could do so. She supported her weight on her hands as she looked down at her brother for a better view.

She smiled proudly while wiping away her tears, "Aunt Megan's apartment in Paris."

Justin eyebrows rose in surprise, "What?"

Alex sighed and moved to sit on her legs, "After you fainted-"

"Hey," Justin let out a dignified squeak, "I didn't faint; I passed out."

Alex deadpanned and shook her head, "No you _fainted_,like the little girl you are. Anyway, after you _fainted_, I didn't know what to do. Mom, Dad and Max was missing and you were in trouble. I couldn't go to Harper's because her mom would ask too many questions."

"What about Uncle Kelbo?"

Alex looked down and shook her head, "He's not answering his wand."

Justin eyes widened at the possible meaning, "Even now?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Alex nodded slowly; she looked away, avoiding eye contact, "I thought we were alone and on our own again. Then I remembered Aunt Megan and brought us here, and luckily she was here."

"Where is she?"

"I'm right here."

Alex and Justin both turned their attention to the door where Megan stood watching them from the doorway. Alex smiled at her aunt and relaxed, she moving off her legs to cross them under herself.

"Aunt Megan," Justin said as he struggled to sit up, but Megan shook her head and rushed forward to his side, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"You shouldn't move too much," Megan said guiding him onto his back again. "You broke several ribs and one pierced your lung, Alex and I fixed your long and only a few of your ribs, and we wanted to make sure you were-"

"WAIT WHAT? ALEX DID WHAT?" Justin screamed and shot up, he instantly regretting it, as he gasped with pain and was once again guided onto his back.

"See, I told you he doesn't like surprises, we should have fixed everything while he was asleep." Alex said with a roll of her eyes.

"And I told you the dangers of that..."

"You are totally ignoring the bigger problem here." Justin freaked out, "Alex as in Alex Russo messed with my insides. Are you mad, woman?"

Megan stepped back in offense but couldn't keep the amused grin off her face and Alex eyes narrowed.

Justin bent towards Megan and motioned at Alex and spoke in a loud whisper. "I-I-I mean you don't know what she's capable of, _she's evil; it's in the eyes_."

"Wait, wait, wait," Alex said a grin plastered on her face, "Isn't that what you said about Stevie?"

Justin turned to Alex, his face stern, "I knew that from experience of dealing with evil girls and I was right, wasn't I?"

Alex bit her bottom lip as her gaze lifted to the ceiling in thought, slowly nodding her head sideways, "Yeah, I can see what you mean by that."

Justin hummed and turned to give Megan a glare that meant; my-point-exactly. A door bell sounded in the room causing the three to look up.

"Ahh, that must be the pizza, and I think they broke their own record this time," Megan said with a sly grin. At the confused looks her niece and nephew was giving her, she elaborated. "You see I order pizza from this place that's far from me, they have this motto that's thirty minutes or free. When I first started ordering from there even if they were a thirty seconds late, I'd talk myself into a free pizza. They got tired of giving me free pizzas so they have my personal deliveryman. Now they bring it to me in less than twenty, they rush it. "

The doorbell rang twice with impatience.

"I'll be back," Megan said standing up from her position on the bed, "Do you feel up for pizza, or do you just want soup, its chicken chowder?" She asked Justin.

Justin realized for the first time how hungry he was and couldn't remember the last time he ate, however he didn't think he had the energy for pizza or anything equally heavy. "Soup is fine, please."

Megan threw on a small smile and squeezed his shoulder before making her way to greet the impatient door. She glanced back at Alex and Justin who were speaking in low voices, so she was unable to hear. She watched as Justin turned toward Alex before attempting to rub her arms with his hands, but Alex pulled Justin's hands away shaking her head as she disagreed with whatever Justin was saying but never letting go of his hand. Megan caught a few words and put together that Justin worried if Alex had any injuries. As she watched her niece and nephew on her bed interacting a stab of pain pierced into her heart as thought of her own brothers.

Jerry and Kelbo, she was worried.

All the hatred in the world she had for them couldn't suppress her worries. She may not have liked them very much and wanted nothing to do with them, but at least before she knew they were safe, but now? Her hands shook in fear.

If Jerry managed to get caught by the hunters, then there was no hope for Kelbo and her; he was the best of them, magic or no magic. Kelbo's MIA status proved just that. They probably had him; because Kelbo always answered when his family called, _always. _

She left the two siblings in favor of giving them privacy and went to retrieve the pizza. She would usually flirt with the young delivery man whenever had her pizza delivered It did wonders for her self-esteem, but she could barley manage a smile as she exchanged money and a decent tip for the pizza.

Megan went through the motions of finishing the chicken chowder soup that she had been cooking when Alex, who was shifting through some of her paintings, heard Justin's strangled cry for his sister. She managed to turn off the burner before she followed after the anxious teen.

It had been a relief to know at least those two were alright, especially after the phone call she received a few days ago informing her of Jerry and his family's MIA status.

_Five Days Ago; Monday_

_Megan Russo was running late to work. She rushed through her apartment overturning sofa cushions, throwing magazines, papers and mail uncaringly off her tables and counters to the floor. The morning started off crappy when her alarm reset in the middle of the night leaving her without enough time to make to work for the start of her shift.__It was almost nine and her shift started at nine fifteen at the hospital and she still couldn't find her car keys, not to mention Paris' traffic she would have to endure once she could actually leave her apartment. _

_Megan groaned as she got __on her knees to look under the couch for the third time when her phone went off. She groaned hoping it wasn't her coworker and friend, Margarette to pick up a latte on her way to work; it wouldn't have been the first time. So in favor of searching for her missing keys, she let the machine pick it up. _

"_Hey, this is Megan Russo; leave it at the beep..." _

_Megan frowned in distaste at the message, nothing she would normally say, but with her booming career, in both the hospital and the art gallery that was featuring some of her work, she figured she should keep it as professional as possible. _

"_Ms. Russo, My name is Detective Sarah Ames, I'm with the New York State police…" That caught Megan's attention as she was moving from her couch to the coat rack by the door, giving up the key search for now. If she was going to make it to work in time, she'd just have bus-it, if she left now, she could catch the nine o'clock bus which would get her to the hospital five minutes late. _

"…_this is not something I wanted to do over a message, but having no choice…Ms. Russo, I'm calling about the unknown whereabouts of your brother, Jerome, uh, Jerry, and his family, Theresa, Justin, Alex, and Max. At the time, they are missing and we suspect foul play."_

_Megan grabbed her coat and rushed to the phone, _

"_If you can call me back at, area code, 646-"_

"_Hello, Detective Ames." _

"_Ms. Russo-"_

"_Megan is __fine-"She cut off as curtly as possible, wanting to get this phone call over and done with so she could go on__with her life; favorable Jerry-Free. _

"_Alright Megan, I'm not sure if you heard any of what I said before-"_

"_Look, I heard what you said," Megan huffed as she threw on her coat glancing at the clock on the microwave, she was losing time. "and I don't know what you want from me. I don't speak to my brothers, cut off all communication with them a long time ago. Besides, Jerry was always known for his abrupt disappearance, probably took the family on vacation, I'm pretty sure they have the means. Now I really have to go before I'm late for work."_

"_Megan please, just a few moments of your time. I really don't think that to be the case, I checked their bank records and nothing indicating a trip-"_

"_I really don't have time for this…"Megan replied more annoyed, she frowned at an odd weight in her tan coat, and shoved her hand inside, then groaned as she pulled out her missing car keys. _

"_Their place was destroyed, Ms. Russo-Megan, there's evidence indicating that Max, the youngest one, was severely injured. There's are witnesses that heard a loud commotion and one even with…some proof that shows Max and your brother and his wife being taking away in an unmarked van. And it is unclear what happened with Alex and Justin." _

_Megan swallowed thickly as she listened to the detective, she could think of no reply. _

"_Look, Megan… I'm not sure what your relationship with your brother is…" _

_Megan heard a ding from in the kitchen and looked over to see a note popping out of her toaster, and knew it was the wizard world. The female detective voice faded as she walked over to the kitchen appliance, she idly noted that it was a very witch-way to send a message but figured that since she was no longer a wizard and had no wizard door, it was the only way to send urgent letters. _

_Megan cradled the phone in between her ear and shoulder as she picked up the note and opened it. _

"_Megan Pera Russo:_

_We regretfully inform you, the following has been suspected to be the victims of Wizard Hunters: Ex-Family-Wizard: Jerome Pepe Russo, Mortal: Theresa Margarita Russo, Wizards-In-Training; Justin Vencenzo Pepe Russo, Alexandra Margarita Russo, Maximilion Ernesto Alanzo Russo. Family-Wizard Kelbo Paolo Russo (status unknown) _

_ Wizard Council"_

_The council, rudely blunt to the point as always. Megan ignored the thought as her burning eyes retraced over the words, it became harder to breath. _

_Gone…they were all gone…_

"_-egan…Megan, are you there?" _

_Megan was pulled out of her thoughts by the detective on the phone, she forgotten all about her. _

"_I-I-" she paused to even out her words so they were no longer breaking, "I'm sorry Detective Ames, was it? I don't know what you want from me but I haven't spoken to my brothers in a year and that was because Jerry's kids bombarded their way into my life, and before that, eighteen years when I cut off all ties with them. So now if you would please, I-I have work-"_

"_Ms. Russo-Megan, please, they're__your family, can't whatever feud that separated you in the past be put aside, Jerry's children are missing…they're your family." A pause. "You mentioned your brothers, so I'm guessing you met Kelbo Russo, is there any contact information."_

_Megan set the letter carefully down on the counter, and wiped her eyes as she grasped the phone, "I-I don't know…" she lied. Kelbo's wand number was more than the normal ten digit number that mortals tended to use, it would raise too many questions. "I'm not in contact with any of them. _

"_But they're your family…don't you care?" Ames pleaded. _

_Megan wiped away her burning tears before they could fall. "That's where you're wrong Detective Ames," her voice cracked, "I don't have a family, so please don't call me again, I can't afford the long distance." _

_Megan promptly hung up before the United States detective could protest, she let her shoulders drop and she sunk to the floor, her back against the cabinet door. She drew in her knees as a sob escaped. _

_Gone…they were gone…_

_Present_

Megan poured the broth in two bowls; one for Justin and Alex, if she wanted some. With three spare plates and the two she balanced on top of the pizza box she carried them into her bedroom.

She found the two in the same position she left them in, huddling close. "Here we go," she announced herself, Alex went over to help carry the soup bowls to the bed.

She handed one to Justin who reached with both hands but quickly retracted to favor his right arm.

He groaned as a sharp pain shot through his shoulder.

"You okay?" Alex questioned, placing the bowls on the small nightstand that was next to the bed.

"I think so," Justin grunted, working his shoulder by rotating it, the pain receded and he was able to relax again.

"Why don't you try to sit up, Alex help him please."

Alex helped Justin sit up against pillows that she propped against his back. He stifled a groan as he pulled his legs close to him in a cross, his body protesting against the movement. He was able to adjust himself and sit back once again to take the soup.

Justin dove right into the soup, not realizing until that point how hungry he was.

Megan watched as Alex put down the bowl in favor of a plate and two pieces of pepperoni pizza and settled right beside her brother, leaning into him slightly. Megan took up the chair that resided in the room since a red-dust covered Alex popped in her loft with an unconscious, badly injured, and equally red-dusted Justin, two days ago. Alex had been sitting in that chair since they managed to heal most of Justin's wounds and was waiting for him to awaken. Alex refused to leave that chair except for bathroom breaks and whenever Megan could manage to coax her into getting rest on the pullout sofa, which they had been sharing.

Megan bit into her pizza as she eyed Justin, using her nursing skills to scan for any more injuries or pain that Justin may have but hiding them so not to worry Alex.

However other than using care not to move his injured shoulder, he seemed to be healing perfect.

She frowned, and looked down at her plate, his injuries had been horrific.

"What happened?" Megan spoke the words before she realized she was saying them.

Alex and Justin looked up at her; Justin sat up straighter, more rigid than before. Megan, however, wanted to know….needed to know what happened to her big brother.

"Uh… Alex only knows as far as waking up in the wizard shelter and finding you in the Lair…" Megan paused, only for a moment. "What happened, Justin?"

Alex looked at Justin; her pizza raised for a bit was slowly put back onto the plate. She also wanted to know what happened with the rest of her family.

Justin looked down; a small headache beginning to form as the memories of that night was brought forth.

"Um…" he rubbed at his temple with his the heel of his hand, trying to massage the pain away, but only seeming to intensify it. He attempted to bring the memories of that night forth, and he was successful, but he just wished he wasn't his mother's scream he remembered so perfectly.

"What's there to tell?" Justin averted the question, suddenly finding the issue too much to think about much less talk about it. "They came, they attacked, and they took Mom, Dad, and Max, end of story"

"Justin…-"

"I don't want to talk about." Justin finalized and went back to his soup, bringing the bowl to his mouth in an attempt to avoid speaking.

Alex and Megan stared at him, the latter settling on not to push the teen into talking for the moment, he still needed to recover. She smiled at Justin and shrugged her shoulders at Alex before continuing with her pizza.

Alex, however, was not so lenient. She knew she had a right to know what happened to them, it was her family too. She had not slept the entire time since arriving at Megan's because she was worried over not only her brother who just blamed her for losing Max, but worried her brother and parents. She wanted answers and said as much.

She balled her fist and shook her head, "I want to know, I need to know." She said looking up at her brother who refused to lower the bowl from his lips, although he actions were now frozen.

"Alex maybe you should just-" Megan words were caught on her lips as the bowl Justin nursed was thrown on the other side of the room against the wall, shattering and upon impact and its contents both dripping down the wall and splattering around the nearest objects.

The siblings in the bed only glared at each other ignoring the mess that was made.

"Leave it alone, Alex."

"NO! I deserve to know what happened to my family too." Alex refused to budge on the subject.

"You weren't there, even if I were to tell you, how would it change anything? I don't want to think about it."

"I'm sorry but that's not good enough for me Justin." Alex sighed and relented in her anger, knowing that he wouldn't back down that way. Instead she dropped her shoulders and rested her head against his shoulder. "How can you expect me to see what I saw and not to worry about what happened? When I woke up, the house was destroyed. There. Was. Blood. No one was around, except for a few _bodies, _Justin, bodies of God knows who in the lair."

She took her brothers hand in a plea, "What happened?"

Justin was silent, keeping a steady gaze on the wall across from him. After minutes passed, Alex was sure she was not going to receive her answers from him and started to pull away, but was held onto fast.

"Justin…" she whispered softly, said boy just took in a haggard breath.

"Dad came into my room," Justin spoke softly after a few moments, moving to stare at the joined hands in his lap. "He was scared, I never seen him that afraid before. He said he saw hunters outside the window-"

He looked up at his Aunt Megan this time, "I didn't want to believe him, we had just learned about them being on a move and even though we've heard about the hundred people gone missing; an attack that quickly… it just didn't seem possible. Besides Dad has always been a little paranoid the whole situation."

Alex silently agreed with a nod.

"But he was scared, so I went with him, barely changing my clothes as I did. We went to Alex's room and managed to get her into a wizard's shelter, but then…Max…"

Justin trailed off as he thought back to that night, the same fear that coursed through his veins when he saw the Hunters in Max's room, ran through him again, his grip on Alex's hand tightened.

"They were there in Max's room, trying to pull him out the window." His eyes burned red with unshed tears that he forced back, "and…and we fought them, but they were stronger." His voice cracked.

"But Spot or whatever… something that Max took from the Wizard World, was hiding under his bed stopped them, _it_ saved him…" _a pet saved Max and I couldn't, _were the words left unsaid.

But Alex must have heard them for she wrapped her free arm around his neck; Justin pulled her to him and wrapped an arm around her, looking for that comfort.

"We managed to get free and we ran...in the hallway… Mom. She was screaming from her room, and Max and I wanted to help save her, but Dad ordered me to protect Max, made me promise get to the lair and protect him, I did. He went for her, and that's the last I saw of him."

Justin stopped speaking, angst filling him from the notion that he failed to keep his promise to his Dad.

"Then what happened, Justin…" Megan asked softly taking Justin's wrist and rubbing it soothingly when his silence seem to proceed.

Justin took in a deep breath and let his memory narrate his story. "Then they seemed to come out of everywhere, I fought with magic, but it wasn't working, it basically bounced off of them."

"Plastic?"

He shrugged with an unsure nod, "That's what I thought too, but they were in the living room, we had to fight our way to the Subshop and the Lair. It likes they were lying in wait for us."

"The ones in the Lair?" Alex asked, her head tucked under his chin, she felt him nodd and moved to wrap both of her arms around him, closing her eyes. She couldn't believe they had to go through that alone.

"It was my idea…if I hadn't." Justin took a deep troubled breath, and let it out, the stinging of his eyes were back again. "There was too many of them, I told him to go to Mars, he forgotten his wand, no time to grab it… but he knew that spell like the back of his hand. I knew he could do it. I thought I was protecting him, but…" he couldn't speak, the words caught hold in his throat and he had to swallow forcefully to free them.

"Justin…"

Justin shook his head; he had to get it out. "I wanted to distract them while he performed the spell, I attacked and told him to wait for my signal…why didn't I just tell him to go, or zapped him there myself."

"You couldn't have predicted what was going to happen." Megan attempted to sooth, she moved her plate to the floor and slid onto the bed, and wrapped Justin in hug. "This is not your fault."

Justin tried to pull away, the tears finally escaping. "I should have-"

"Look at me," Megan reaffirmed pulling back so she could lock eyes with the upset teen, "You tried your best… no _look at me_, Justin… you did what you could, barely surviving yourself. Don't blame yourself, do you hear me?"

When no reply was given she firmly grasped Justin's chin and directed his eyes towards hers.

"Do you hear me?"

Justin face crumpled and he let gave a small nod, but he couldn't stop the deep sob that left him soon after, "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" he muttered still feeling solely guilty for losing his little brother. Megan pulled him into a hug and held him as his body shook both of them, as his cries got louder and uncontrollable. She felt her own tears escape, but she refused to cry, Alex and Justin needed her.

Her eyes found Alex who had pulled her legs to her chest and was crying silently as she watched them. Megan held out an arm, and Alex did not hesitate to fall in them, as she had been doing the past few days, and let herself cry.

The time eased forward into the night, until the cries slowed down into uneven breathing.

Justin, who had been falling asleep into his aunt's arms, felt a sharp pain in both his stomach and shoulder. The stomach pain more prominent, however easier to fix with food, had him pulling away from Megan. He wiped his face with tissues pulled from the box sitting on the nightstand aside the bed.

"Sorry about your shirt…" he said, his voice deep and harsh from crying, while motioning to Megan's wet shirt.

"Its okay, the snot-and-teared look is what I have been rocking these past couple days." Megan shrugged; she motioned to Alex who finally fell asleep.

Justin chuckled sheepishly and sighed, he looked around and noticed the broken bowl and spilled food again the wall and winced. "Sorry about…" he motioned to the mess.

Megan turned her head and sighed as she surveyed the mess, "yeah…do you think you could…" She wiggled her wrist.

Justin understood right away and started to pat himself down despite knowing he had no hiding places. "My wand…"

Megan pointed at the night stand where it sat innocently next to the alarm.

Justin grunted as he reached for it, ignoring the pain. It took only a few moments to magically clean up the mess and restore the broken pieces back to its previous form.

"One more thing, my arm is falling asleep." Megan said referring to the sleeping girl who was at her side. Justin nodded and helped eased Alex down next to him, where she instantly curled to his side.

Justin ignored his sister in favor of picking up her untouched soup that was cooled, although still delicious to his famished body. It took him no time to finish the soup along with Megan's last piece of uneaten pizza, all the while his mind formulated plans.

"I-," he cleared his throat, which was still sore from crying, "I think we need to start making plans for our next move." He said as he finished his food, still hungry but content for the time being.

Megan frowned, "I don't think now's the time for that, you need your rest."

"I'm fine," he lied, even now the pain in his shoulder was an uncomfortable dull throb with sharp needle pains shooting up every so often, but that could be easily ignored.

"No you're not Justin-" Megan began again.

"I'll Be Fine!" He snapped angrily, grabbing at the pain in his shoulder. "What I'm feeling, is probably nowhere close to what Max is going through."

Megan swallowed her words thickly.

"Besides, we don't have much time to find them." Justin grunted out, "Statistics proves that the rate of finding a missing person is higher in the first forty-eight hours, after which it's cut in half. I'm guessing we already lost a day or two, which doesn't give us much time-"

"Wait wait…" Megan said raising her hands stopping Justin from his rant. She reached over and grabbed his hand when he refused to heed her. "Justin, Justin…what…what day do you think it is today?" She questioned.

Justin looked at her confused, he shook his head; he did not have time to focus on that… "Aunt Meg-"

"What day is it?" she stressed again.

Justin looked at her confused and racked his mind...

Saturday, it was Saturday was the last time they were together, Saturday; he called off hanging out with Zeke to help Alex and Max learn the new spell. They didn't have any plans, but hanging out, and he had to admit he enjoyed practicing the new spell with his siblings. Alex pretended to be more upset with the idea of studying magic with her two brothers, but he knew she was happy too. And Max…well Max was just Max.

They were attacked that night, _Saturday night…_ and it couldn't have been more than a day he spent under the rubble going in and out of consciousness, but he had no real sense of time. Then Alex showed up and he could breathe…

"Monday?" He hoped looking at Megan, who sadly shook her head…"Tuesday?"

"Friday," Megan answered, but he eyes scanned the time on the alarm. "Actually since its past midnight, Saturday."

"Saturday?" Justin shook his head, his breathing becoming more hectic. That wasn't possible… "…a week? You're saying that I've been out of it… for a week?"

"It's okay…" Megan said, hoping to stop him from going into shock. She moved to his side and rubbed his back

"How is that okay…they've been taken for a week. What are they doing to them; Mom, Dad…Max?" His thoughts were racing.

"Calm down Justin." Megan grabbed his shoulders,

"_A week_."

"Justin." She gave a sharp shake which pulled him from his mutterings.

Justin met her eyes, his with fresh unshielded tears, and his shoulders dropped. "Sorry, but can you leave me alone." Megan shook her head, unwilling to leave him alone now, and said as much.

"I'm tired and this is a lot to process, please, I'll be fine. I just want to be alone to think." Megan dropped her hands to her side and nodded in understanding.

"I'm sorry Justin," she whispered, "I'll just get Alex." She reached over to wake the sleeping girl but was stopped.

"Leave her," Justin said gently stopping Megan by grasping her wrist.

"Justin…"

"She's my sister and I need her with me. I just need to know that she safe, and for now that's with me."

Megan smiled and nodded, "I understand." She stood up, pausing slightly to leave a soft kiss on Justin's forehead. "I'm sorry," she whispered again. She stayed long enough to collect the dishes and was gone, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.

Justin sighed roughly and combed a hand through his hair. He pulled his knee to his chest and propped his arm on it and rested his chin there.

"What are we going to do Justin?" Alex asked from her position next to him, she didn't move but only spoke in a low voice. Minimum

Justin sighed deeply and looked down at his sister who cracked an eye open to look up at him, he shrugged his shoulder, but relaxed his position and eased back into bed, so he was laying on his back next to Alex who was on her side.

"We're going to find them, Alex." Justin was sure of that, nothing else but that. "Whatever it takes…"

Alex closed her eyes but moved so her head rested on his right shoulder and her hand secured tightly in his. "I don't think Aunt Megan is going to help us."

Justin shook his head, "I'm sure those problems can be pushed aside, they're _her_ family too. No matter how upset she is with them over Wizarding decision, it won't stop her from helping them."

Alex didn't answer because he sounded so sure of himself, but she knew…

"And if she doesn't…" Justin said, tightening his hold, "we'll do it ourselves. It's not like we haven't before."

Alex nodded and closed her eyes, once again letting sleep overcome her. Justin followed suit soon after.

* * *

_Four Hours Later… Saturday _

_._

Justin eyes snapped opened then screwed shut.

_Pain…so much pain…_

He gasped in pain and turned onto his right side clutching his shoulder. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out, Justin had to pry his eyes open and instantly saw his sister sleeping peacefully, the last thing he wanted to do was awaken her.

His entire shoulder burned as if he were being poked with hot needles, the pain traveling down his arm to his torso. He bit down on his lip to keep from screaming, instead letting out a strangled whimper, dully noticing he had bit down hard enough to draw blood.

He had to wait for the wave to subside before he could move, which he did so slowly. He withdrew his feet from the bed and sat up on the side, unconsciously wiping the blood dripping down his chin. He turned on the light of the small lamp, barely acknowledging the time; 4:17am.

He groaned as the pain rose again and took in a deep breath to prepare himself; he rocked back and forth this time biting into his left forearm as he clutched his injured shoulder.

He looked down at the bandaged shoulder and pressed the heel of his palm to it.

"What the…?" Justin grunted as he felt a lump under his hand. It was big and hard, but he did not remember it being there before. He looked down and could just barely see the lump protruding out of his shoulder under the bandages. He braced himself as his pushed on it, his eyes watering and a whimper escaping his lips and he couldn't hold back a whimper; that's where the pain was coming from.

He grasped it as a fourth wave coursed through his body and…wait… He gazed down and his eyes widened. He gritted through the pain and looked around. He spotted the scissors on the long dresser across the room, and groaned at the aspect of having to walk over there to retrieve it.

The pain eased away, which gave him enough time to gather enough strength to do so.

"Justin…" a sleepy voiced whispered out to him.

"Go back to sleep." He whispered back quickly only pausing as Alex flipped over and pulled the pillow over her head, she was asleep before it landed. Justin moved quickly across the room, grasping the scissors in hand before he realized it and was cutting away the bandages.

He only needed enough to be removed so he could see if he really felt…

It was hard to see in the dark, but the light from the lamp and the moonlight was just enough to see in the dresser mirror. He could tell the area around the lump was discolored; red and purple bruising and it felt as sore as it looked. He leaned in closer and his eyes widened.

Shit! It moved.

_Get it out! Get it out _"Get it out! Get it out!"_ Get it out. _He mumbled in his minded and under his breath.

It moved again, causing another painful groan to escape Justin. He started to claw at the lump but it moved away from him. His hands started to shake and tremble, as did the rest of his body and he felt sick.

"Out out out" his voice rose in terror, and as he banged on his shoulder. Nothing… Pain ripped through his body sending him to his knees. Through a squinted and watery vision he eyed the scissors, and all rational thought left him.

He just wanted it out, he wanted it out now.

"FUCK!" Justin cursed out, he body jerked forward as he reached for the scissors his arms swiped into everything on the dresser sending them crashing to the floor, but that didn't matter; the scissors were gripped tightly in his hand.

Alex eyes snapped open at the sound of the crash, she shot out of bed and turned abruptly, "Justin what are you-" her words left her as she watched Justin stab himself with the scissors, and the yell that followed, she wasn't sure if it was his or hers.

Alex jumped from the bed, getting tangled in the covers as she did so and fell onto the floor; nevertheless she propelled herself forward, screaming for her Aunt Megan in the process.

"Justin what are you doing?" The question was asked as Alex landed in front of Justin leaning against the dresser. The blood was gushing out of his shoulder. She whimpered in distress, there was so much blood. She faulted as her hands hovered over the injury and whimpered for him. When he let out a yelp she moved, she tried to pull the scissors away but Justin shook his head, forcing the makeshift weapon in deeper.

"Get it out, get it out." He cried out just above a whisper and bit back a yell as he dug the scissors around his shoulder hoping to kill the damn thing.

"If you let go, I can pull it out." Alex argued believing he was talking about the embedded scissors. Justin shook his head as he twisted and bit back a scream.

"AUNT MEGAN; HELP" Alex screamed, she attached her hand over his and tried to pry his hand away.

A crash followed by a string of curses stormed its way to the room and the door was pushed open by a disheveled Megan.

"What?"

"Help."

Megan opened her eyes and blinked, flipping the light switch as she did so. The light flooded the room and her eyes found the two red doused teens, a sight she was getting tired of seeing. Megan sprung into action.

"What happened?"

"He stabbed himself," Alex cried as she finally managed to pull the scissors out. She attempted to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, because that's what she was supposed to do…right?"

"Justin what were you thinking?" Megan scolded as she eased him onto his back ignoring his attempts to bat at her, "Alex get tissues." She pointed to the box with slightly bloodied hand.

Alex followed the order quickly in favor of returning back to her brother's side. Megan took the tissue and applied it to the wound; barley noticing the sizable lump on the shoulder.

"out…get…it out…out…" Justin was weakening from the blood lost, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"He's going into shock." Megan muttered to herself she as applied heavy pressure, ignoring the blood slipping into everything. She softly patted his cheek to keep him from passing out "Alex listen to me, we need to-"

Megan froze and looked down at the bloody wound, did it just…it moved! Again!

"Aunt Megan what do you-"

"Hospital, Wizard hospital. Now!" Megan yelled.

Alex scrambled to the bed grabbing her wand which had made its way under her pillow sometime in the night. Leaving dark red stains in the sheets uncaring, she managed to reach to the nightstand and grab Justin's.

She rushed back to her aunt and brother and after a few chosen words and a wave of her wand; they were gone.


	9. Broken Family Promises

**Summary**: "_They- __**they**__ took Max, and he was shouting and screaming, and trying to fight, but he's only a little kid, Justin. They took him to this room, Mom and Dad were crying for him, and Max for them, and for us-" _"_Shhh…we'll find them Alex, we'll find them. I promise."_

**DISCLAIMER**: WOWP does not belong to me, but the Property of Disney

**Pairings**: Jalex (of course; however probably won't seem very strong because context of the story. But it will be there with probable lemon (although I'm starting to have doubts). YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

**Beta: brokenflower (Thanks! (^_^))**

**Notes: **See, as promised, not a whole year before the next update. Hope you like it

Don't forget to review! I'd like honest feedback.

* * *

Chapter 8

Broken Family Promises

Alex sighed as she dropped a leg from the chair to the floor, resorting to leaning on the other leg that was pulled to her chest. She looked at the door and then to her aunt, sitting beside her. They were both clean of Justin's blood, due to Alex's magic.

"How much longer are we going to have to wait before they tell us anything?" Alex questioned anxiously referring to the fact that they had been waiting in the Wizard Hospital for a few hours since arriving with a bleeding Justin. Upon realizing the situation, nurses and doctors quickly rushed into action, placing him on a floating gurney and disappearing, literally, from the entrance.

"Give it time Alex," Megan said for the umpteenth time, quickly learning that Alex was not a patient person.

"But it's been hours, how much longer it is going to be?" Alex whined wrapping her arms around her raised leg and pulling it closer to her

Megan's eyebrow twitched, "I'm sure that-"

"Russo!" The named was called out and both female Russos jumped to their feet. They watched as a bronze colored female doctor, with a small nub on her forehead entered the waiting room.

Megan faulted at the sight of the doctor.

"How's my brother?" Alex questioned pushing past her aunt, moving toward the doctor.

The doctor smiled at the older Russo before turning to the eager younger one and gave a small warm smile. "We were lucky; we got him just in time. Justin will make a full recovery, he's sleeping peacefully now."

The doctor returned to look at Megan and smiled again, "How are you, Megan? You look well."

"Doctor Hoof," Megan let out with a breath, surprised.

Alex narrowed her eyes at the interaction, let out an annoyed groan, and folded her arms. "Yeah, yeah, you know each other, fine; meet, meet greet, greet whatever. Can be go back to my brother now?"

The doctor once again looked at the impatient teenager and nodded reverting back to business. "Let's talk in my office." She pulled out a doorknob from her pocket and pushed it into the air and pulled it back toward her, a door appeared and opened a doorway into an office. Alex and Megan walked through it, followed by the doctor who pulled the door behind her, which disappeared when it closed.

The doctor invited them to sit down in the two chairs in front of her desk, which she leaned against, placing the doorknob at her side.

"Let me introduce myself," she said placing the folder she carried with her down on the table. "My name is Dr. Doctor Hoof."

"Let me guess, Elf?" Alex questioned her eyes looking to the doctor's ears which often were tell-tale signs of an Elf, aside from the occupational name.

Doctor smiled and gave a half shrug and nod, "Half; half elf and half Unicorn." She pointed toward the nub on her forehead, not ashamed of her nationality, but proud of. "Shrunken while at work, my tail is wrapped around me while I'm here too..." She chuckled lightly making it hard to decipher if she was joking or not.

"Doctor huh…" Alex smirked.

"Well my parents did have high expectations for me, plus Unicorns are notorious for their healing abilities, it wasn't that much of a long shot." Doctor nodded with a smile.

"She's one of the best doctors in the Wizarding world." Megan replied with a sense of fondness.

"She's only saying that because I was her teacher."

"Teacher…?"

"It wasn't just that, I wanted to train under you for a reason."

"Wait wait," Alex interrupted, injecting in the conversation, "Training for what?"

"You never told her?" Doctor asked with a tilt of her head, surprised.

"She's my niece…" Megan said first, to dispelling the thoughts of Alex being her daughter, Doctor nodded in understanding, because that was her first thought. "But no, the only people I ever told were my brothers, and that didn't end well for me now did it?" Doctor gave her a comforting smile.

"Hello… still confused here, someone wanna start explaining?"

Doctor sat up straighter against the desk and looked at Alex, "Your aunt was my apprentice…sort-of, and had she won the Wizard Competition, she would have become, in my opinion one of the best doctors in this world, after more training and practice of course."

Megan gave her former mentor a warm smile.

"It was a shame; she was rather quick at picking up treatments."

Alex snapped her fingers and turned to her Aunt, "That's how you knew about all that stuff to heal Justin." …_and why you're so angry with Dad and Uncle Kelbo_… she added silently

"That was your work?" Doctor questioned Megan pleasantly surprised. "I should have known… I thought I recognized those healing sutras. You always had a unique way of doing things."

"Alex did the magic, I just provided the know-how." Megan stated, it was always good hearing praises from someone you looked up to.

"Speaking of know-it-alls," Alex intercepted, seeing as how this conversation was getting her nowhere.

"Who said anything about-?"

"-I want to see Justin."

"Right, your brother, Justin Russo…" Doctor said standing up and rounding her desk to her to sit in her chair. "There is a reason I brought you in here first." She dug in her pocket and pulled out a small sealed clear jar, placing it in the middle of her desk to give both Russo's a clear view of its contents.

"Eww…what is that thing?" Alex scrunched up her nose at the object; even Megan's expression was sour. There was an instinctive dislike of it and need to be away from it, they both sat back in their chair as if to put as much distance between them and the thing as possible.

It was a small object that looked somewhat like a beetle, it was not bigger than the tip of one's thumb; it was a disgusting shade of brown but it was hard to tell due the blood that caked it.

Doctor picked up the jar and examined it lightly, "We're unsure of its legitimate name because we are not the ones that factored it. We do call it, however, a Bug Bomb, because it has a nasty habit of acting as a bomb and blowing up itself and its host." Doctor looked from the jar to the Alex and Megan. "The host was Justin."

"You're saying that _thing_ was inside Justin?" Alex questioned eyeing the jar with dislike, there were many insults she could have attached with that statement but she couldn't, it almost took Justin's life. "How?"

"I had Alex scan Justin with her magic and that was not there." Megan noted shaking her head.

Doctor nodded her head, "Of course you couldn't see it, it has the ability to hide itself from magic, and its coating is made from plastic which makes it impossible to be detected by magic. You would have had a better chance using an X-Ray from the mortal world. Unfortunately, that's not its only defense." Doctor picked up Justin's file and pulled out an X-ray, and held it in the air where it stood and brightened up making it possible to see.

It was a 3-D scan of Justin's right shoulder. Doctor turned it on its side, and pointed to the front of the shoulder, with a pen.

"What occurs is, when its pod is ejected, it goes through the body, and in the process of a millisecond, perhaps that time it takes you to blink, it releases the bug, and then the pod is shot out through the back. Many tend not to look for anything to stay on the inside if there is an exit point, which Justin had.

"When Doctors come across this, and believe me, it's very few and in between, they tend to overlook that and in the end the patient is destroyed by the bomb."

"How long does it take for the bomb to go off?" Megan asked taking in Alex's hand when it reached for hers.

"Seventy-two hours," Doctor replied with absolute certainty, Alex frowned, "and that's only if it's not removed by the ones who put it in. During the first seventy-two hours the bug implants itself in its hosts, and for lack of better words, causes immense torture to the victim. Which brings me to my next point; the only groups known to make such an inhumane tool are the Wizard Hunters. Have you recently had a run in with them?"

Megan frowned and nodded her head, "They had a run in with them; they took my brother, Jerry, his wife, Alex and Justin's parents, and their little brother. Luckily they escaped." She answered gesturing to Alex. "But that was a week ago, not three days."

Doctor leaned forward in her chair her eyes wide in surprise. "Interesting, that has never occurred before. We haven't learned very much on the Bug Bombs, but what we have managed to decipher is that during the three day period the bug acts as a transmitter, transmitting its location to the hunters. If they are not removed by the Hunters on the third night, it self-destructs, instantly destroying the wizard-host. Luckily we discovered a safe way to remove them without activating its self-destruct mechanism.

"The bomb itself uses a mixture of advanced technology and magic, likes that I have not seen elsewhere; the ingenious little shits…" Doctor replied snidely, "Unfortunately it's very effective, so for it not to go off in Justin, within the first three days…that has never been heard of. Exactly what happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

Alex and Megan relayed the story they heard from Justin, adding in when Alex woke up to find him under the pile of destruction in the lair. The doctor listening intently, nodding as it went on.

"I think his magic protected him," Alex said softly, pulling her hands free of Megan's to cross in front of her chest. "He was under there for days without food and water, and when I found him, he was hurt, but not dying, we both went to Mars. I mean I'm not a nerd like Justin, but shouldn't he have been worse?"

The doctor nodded slowly leaning back in her chair, "It does makes sense actually, The Russo Magic has always been strong especially when done while protecting, plus Justin's magic was strained to its max. There is a possibility that even in his state, when his magic was wrapping around him to protect him from the lair's destruction that it also formed a barrier around the bug to prevent it from activating its GPS and destruct mechanism.

"It would certainly explain the burn marks on the plastic coverings, it was fighting it. When freed, Justin's magic retreated but it caused the bug, at that point, to activate."

"What, do you mean that they were tracking us?"

Doctor nodded with a shrug, "That's a possibility, I'm not too sure how the GPS system works and I don't believe there has been a lot of progress in tracing where the bug transmits its location to. However, just in case I advice not to return to your prior location."

"Can you use that to do it?" Alex asked pointing at the glass jar.

Doctor shook her head, "Justin pretty much had accurate aim, when he stabbed himself with-scissors was it?" They nodded, "It was a very lucky shot, and he somehow managed to disable the self-destruct system, which is why he's still alive. Had he not, most likely when you arrived he would have already been dead."

Alex's hands flew to her mouth in shock, as her eyes widened, she could clearly remember his pleas to "get it out" that he was grunting out as dove the scissors in, had she stopped him, then he would have been…dead. It would have been her fault.

The thought was too much to bear and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I don't tell you this to upset you, but you need to understand the seriousness of this situation."

Alex pushed her disheveled hair behind her, she needed him.

"I want to see him, now!" Alex demanded standing up from her seat; Megan followed suit agreeing with her.

"Of course," Doctor replied, dropping Justin's files on her desk. Picking up the door knob as she rounded her desk; she repeated her earlier actions opening a doorway in the thin air.

They could see Justin resting peacefully on the bed in a small room.

"When he awakens you are free to go after some papers are signed." Doctor said with a smile, resting her hand on Megan's shoulder.

"Thank you," Megan said gratefully; they shared a brief hug before pulling away.

"Oh! One more thing, before I forget," Doctor said with a snap of her finger, stopping them from moving forward, "it's protocol that when we take in Wizard Hunter victims that we contact the council, we have done that. You may be contacted soon, just to let you know."

"I understand," Megan said with a nod, Alex just turned and went to Justin's bedside, taking his hand in hers. Doctor pointed out a call button, so if they needed anything, she could be contacted, then she closed the room behind Megan opting to give them privacy.

"Justin…" Alex said softly, rubbing her fingers across his knuckles. She watched as his eyes slowly blinked open; they connected with hers and he gave her a lazy smile.

"How are you?" he asked in a soft whisper.

"Stupid Justin," Alex said wiping at her eyes, and let out a huff of air, she was exhausted with herself, for the last couple of days she had been doing nothing but crying. What better way was there other than taking it out on him? "You almost kill yourself and you ask me if I'm okay, you're such a loser."

Justin smiled and brought a hand up to wipe away her tears, "I'm sorry…" he said softly, dropping his hand again, but then the memory came back to him and he shot up, with surprisingly ease, and grasped his bandaged shoulder, "Where!"

"It's out." Megan intercepted, joining Alex at the bedside.

"What was in me?" He asked feeling around his shoulder, taking comfort in not discovering any moving lumps.

"A blow-up tracing bug, or something," Alex replied shuddering, but then she smirked at him, "I always knew there was something wrong with you, maybe we should have you fully checked to see if you have a bug in your brain, because no one could be such a nerd and enjoy it."

"Funny," Justin deadpanned, "however you would have to be in certain countries to obtain any type of bug that inhabits a person, and I for that matter have been not."

Alex returned the dead stare with one of her own, "No I actually think you enjoy it."

Megan shook her head at their banter, it reminded her of her own relationship with her brothers, and the thought brought a painful feeling inside, so she pushed it away, as she had been doing for the past decade.

"It was from the wizard hunters, they must have implanted you or something."

Justin shook his head, "I don't remem…wait," he paused wracking his brain, "I did a spell… restruction destruction, and then I think I was shot…"

"You think…?"

"I don't really remember; everything was coming down, I just remember my shoulder hurting and falling, I did a spell to protect me from the collapsing room…and then Alex."

"There was a lot going on," Megan soothed rubbing his leg over the cover, she smiled at him, "but that's over, how do you feel now?"

Justin tested his shoulders by rotating and upon feeling no pain he smiled, "Nothing hurts, I'm still sore in some places, but I feel fine." He looked suspiciously at the two, "you didn't have Alex mess around with me again did you?"

Alex rolled her eyes and mumbled loser under her breath, but Megan chuckled shaking her head, "You're in a hospital in the Wizard world," she said calming his fears, "and they took care of you."

"Yeah," Alex nodded, "apparently, Aunt Megan knows the doctor."

"She was a teacher of mine during my wizard training years.

"Apparently she was training to become a wizard's doctor, but then you know the whole competition-Kelbo thing…" Alex trailed off not wanting to invoke any bad feelings, but gestured to her aunt.

"Oh…" Justin said confused as he looked between Alex and Megan, then he snapped his fingers, "Oh! You mean Dad winning but giving his powers to Uncle Kelbo but not Aunt Megan thing, which makes sense why you were mad because he gave your dream away…" Justin caught Alex's glare and smiled sheepishly, "which Alex didn't want to mention because it's probably a depressing topic for you and makes the whole thing completely…awkward."

Alex deadpanned, "Ya' think… and they say you're the smart one?" Justin returned the dead look.

Megan chuckled with a shake of her head, waving away the concern, "Don't worry about it, I'm fine, really."

Alex bit her lip not daring to speak on the subject, at least she had more common sense than Justin, but depending on the situation depicted if she would ignore it or not.

"So ya sure you're feeling better? Because really, you said that the last time and then you stabbed scissors into your shoulder."

Justin smiled at his little sister, and teased her, "Aww, you're worried?" He demonstrated his well-being by rising from the hospital bed.

"What! Psh…no, I was totally not worried." Alex responded, but contradicted her words when she grabbed at his arm when he looked unstable on his feet. She then wrapped her arms around Justin's midriff and planted herself under his chin.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" She said still upset.

Justin smiled and wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders, "I'm sorry," he mumbled into her hair, "I promise; it won't happen again."

"It's good to see you on your feet, Justin." Megan said pulling him into a hug once the siblings pulled away from each other.

"It's feels good," he agreed, "now we finally go and save them." He looked at Megan, "I know that it's been a week since they've been kidnapped, but I think if we go back to the scene of the crime we can try to find clues as to where they have been taken."

Megan became worried. "Wait-"

"Maybe we can find a spell that could show us their location."

"That's right! We could GPS Max's location; thanks to the spell that Dad had me put on him after last month when we went to the mall and he wandered off and got lost."

"I still don't understand how he ended up in the monkey cage at the Bronx Zoo." Alex chuckled in disbelief.

"He always had a weird fixation of that place."

"Wait…"

"So we should get back to the lair." Alex said lifting up her foot to pull her wand out of her boot.

"Wait!" Megan yelled, grabbing on to Alex's wrist before she could cast her spell.

"We can't wait any longer; they could already be fighting for their lives." Justin disagreed.

"I meant "wait" as in you're not going." Megan pulled Alex's wand out of Alex's hand. She took a step back and looked at her nephew and niece. "You guys have no idea what you're doing, who you're going up against."

"I do."

"No. You. Don't, Justin," Megan implored. She moved closer to him grabbing his shoulders forcing his attention on her. "You think you know who and what the Wizard hunters are, but you really have no idea. They're dangerous mercenaries with no compassion for life who do not discriminate against gender or age.

"You have no idea how _lucky_ you were to make it out there alive and you barely did that. Better wizards than you have died by their hands, and I won't have you go looking for them, just so the same could happen to you. "

She looked at Alex who glared at her, and returned the glare, "What were you going to do, huh? Ask them to please give your back your family? You going to fight your way in, with the chance of getting captured or worse killed? It's not going to happen, not on my watch."

Megan turned away from them, needing to separate from them.

"No offense, Aunt Megan, you can't stop us."

Megan turned on them and glared harder, "No offense, Justin, but I may not be a wizard but I can still stop you."

Alex took a step toward her aunt, anger in her eyes. "You know, I used to be afraid that because we're kind of alike, and Justin is like Dad, and Max is just like Uncle Kelbo, that if I were to lose the competition to them, then I would do what you did and abandon my brothers."

Justin touched Alex's hand to pull her back but she pulled away taking another step toward Megan. "It took them a lot on their part to convince me I would never do anything like that, because we love each other too much to let that happen. But then, at some point you must have loved them too, so really the fear stayed with me."

"Alex…" Justin said stepping behind Alex and resting his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged them off, shaking her head.

"I had this fear up until I arrived at your house a few days ago and then, it was gone. It was gone because I realized that I am nothing, nothing like you," Alex spat with hatred. "I may not always get along with my brother, and sometimes I'm ashamed to say they're related to me, because let's face it, Justin is the Queen of Nerds-"

"Hey-"

"-and Max is just too plain weird; probably due to the fact that he may or may not have been dropped too many times on his head when he was a baby-"

"-By you-"

"But no matter, how many times they embarrass me, or we fight and I'm really mad at them; I will always, ALWAYS, have their back. The idea of either one of them being in pain, "Alex shook her head and held her stomach, "it physically hurts."

Taking a deep breath, Alex tried to control her emotions but...damn, she thought she was done with this crying business, "When I first found them gone, before I found Justin," she said through her quivering voice, and wiping furiously at her falling tears, "I thought they were all taken by those hunters and I wished I was with them. For those few minutes, I didn't care what they would do to me, it did not matter, wouldn't matter as long as we were all together. As long as I got to die with them…"

"Alex stop," Justin begged, ignoring his own shaking voice, as he stepped behind his sister and wrapped his arms over her shoulders. He did not want to hear those words coming from her mouth, not now, not ever.

Alex shook her head, but didn't pull away from Justin. She continued glaring at Megan who wrapped her arms around herself. "I'm not like you because I would never turn my back on my family, after I was told they were missing. I would never say I don't care."

Megan shook her head in confusion, "I may be upset with them but I would never say-"

Alex held up her palm and a familiar answering machine magically appeared causing Megan to freeze her words.

"First," Alex snapped, "don't lie to me. Second, you should know that if you leave for any given period of time, I snoop, especially when bored." She pressed play and Megan's cold voice filled the room.

"_Look, I heard what you said, and I don't know what you want from me. I don't speak to my brothers; I cut off all communication with them a long time ago. Besides, Jerry was always known for his abrupt disappearance, probably took the family on vacation, I'm pretty sure they have the means. Now I really have to go before I'm late for work."_

"_Megan please, just a few moments of your time. I really don't think that to be the case, I checked their bank records and nothing indicating a trip-"_

"_I really don't have time for this…" _

"_Their place was destroyed, Ms. Russo-Megan, there's evidence indicating that Max, the youngest one, was severely injured. There's are witnesses that heard a loud commotion and one even with…some proof that shows Max and your brother and his wife being taking away in an unmarked van. And it is unclear what happened with Alex and Justin." _

"_Look, Megan… I'm not sure what your relationship with your brother is…" _

"_-egan…Megan, are you there?" _

"_I-I-…I'm sorry Detective Ames, was it? I don't know what you want from me but I haven't spoken to my brothers in a year and that was because Jerry's kids bombarded their way into my life, and before that, eighteen years when I cut off all ties with them. So now if you would please, I-I have work-"_

"_Ms. Russo-Megan, please, they're__your family, can't whatever feud that separated you in the past be put aside, Jerry's children are missing…they're your family." A pause. "You mentioned your brothers, so I'm guessing you met Kelbo Russo, is there any contact information."_

_, "I-I don't know…I'm not in contact with any of them. _

"_But they're your family…don't you care?" _

"_That's where you're wrong Detective Ames, I don't have a family, so please don't call me again, I can't afford the long distance." _

The recording ended and the room stretched out in silence, Justin arms dropped from around Alex and he took a step forward next to his sister.

Megan shook her head, "You don't understand…"

"Understand what?" Justin asked in a low voice, as he took the machine from his sister's hands, "That you gave up on us without even trying," he met his Aunts eyes who had enough sense to step back in fear at the look he was giving her.

"It was too late Justin, trying to find them with magic is dangerous and impossible, and without magic…it's hopeless."

"So that's why you said you DON'T HAVE A FAMILY? WHY YOU GAVE UP ON US?" He yelled as he threw the machine against the wall, ignoring the crash it brought. Megan, even Alex jumped at the impact, both surprised by his anger.

"JUSTIN!"

Justin backed away ignoring the burning sensation in his eyes. "Alex warned me that you wouldn't care to try to help but, but I didn't believe it because no one could hold on to something that petty against this." Justin sneered disgustingly, and then shook his head, "but I was wrong."

"Justin-Alex, just listen to me." Alex shook her head and turned away.

"No…Megan," Justin sneered, no longer considering her family, no longer her Aunt, "thank you for getting us this far, but I think you should leave."

Megan eyes widened and she took a step forward, Justin raised his hands and Alex's wand flew out of Megan's hand and into his. "Knock knock, whose there, doorus appearus," he mumbled and a doorway appeared beside Megan.

"Go…" he nodded toward the door.

Megan looked between the two but only received hostile expressions back. She let out a huff of air in annoyance, fine she would give them time to cool off so they could talk calmly later, but there is no way she was going to abandon them.

She failed with her brothers; she was not going to fail his kids.

"I'll be back," she warned.

"Don't bother," Alex replied, holding her glare.

Megan wisely did not reply and turned to leave.

"Not going anywhere, I hope Ms. Russo?"

Megan faulted in her steps as Professor Crumbs appeared in front of the doorway with a gentle smile on his face, which was surprisingly easy to detect with his foot long beard.

"Professor Crumbs," Alex expressed in glee as she ran to the man and threw her arms around his torso. The professor smiled fondly at the girl and patted her back softly.

"It's good to see you Alex," he looked up spotting the young male wizard, "and you too Justin, I heard what happened and wanted to check up on you both personally , it's good to see you in health."

Justin forced a smile, not truly up for it, "Just barely…" he quietly replied, the professor nodded in understanding.

Professor Crumbs turned to the young woman who once was a student of his at WizTech, "Megan, it has been a while hasn't. You have grown up beautifully child."

Megan smiled back warmly, "Thank you Professor Crumbs, it's good to see you also."

Alex pulled back from the professor brushing off the feeling of his beard against her face, an annoying but fond feeling, "You have to help us Professor Crumbs, they took Max, and Mom and Dad."

Professor Crumbs frowned but did not voice his concerns, urgent business prompted his visit.

"The Wizard Council has called upon you, and I wanted to see you there myself."

Justin eyes lightened up, "The Council, if anyone who could help us find our parents it must be them right? They could get the trolls to help us find them."

Professor Crumbs shook his head. "I'm afraid it won't be that easy," he warned, "but we will talk about that once we get there, for now they are expecting us." He held his arms out and beckoned the three Russos to gather close. With a wave of his arms, the four disappeared from the room.


End file.
